Out of The Comfort Zone
by The Blade of Osh-Tekk
Summary: Helios is where he belonged. Running Hyperion is what he deserved. Sitting behind a computer is what he was good at. That was over now. Being a company man was over. Now it was time to be a survivor.
1. Chapter 1 - Getting Away

A/N: This idea came to me randomly, so I decided to write it. I always felt that in Tales of the Borderlands, they hadn't really made Rhys much of a survivor. More like a guy who survives on pure luck. This is a Rhys who learns how to survive on his own. Hope you all like where I'm going with it.

* * *

Rhys struggled to get to his feet. The sensation going through his head was something akin to someone trying to pound a nail into his head. It was difficult to find any time of balance and focus in the current situation.

Losing his cybernetic arm was almost as bad as getting it installed. Removing the ECHO eye was DEFINITELY worse. The data chip in the side of his head was somewhat easier to deal with, but it still hurt. It didn't help that he felt completely dehydrated and hungry.

Rhys limped over to the shelf to see if there was anything remotely useful he could use. The only thing that had any merit was the rights to Atlas. He had the knowledge to do something with the name. If he could find the money for it, he could still be the company leader he always wanted to be. But he wouldn't be Handsome Jack. That was something he refused to do.

He grabbed the rights before limping out of what was left of Helios. Eyesight going towards the far distance, he could see a large group approaching in the distance.

"Bandits here already? I can't catch a break," Rhys groaned before limping away from the wreckage faster.

He drew his stun baton, which felt weird in his left hand. After about ten minutes of limping, he figured he was far enough away from the bandits. He then put his stun baton back in the pocket in his jacket before continuing forward. That was until he walked straight into the butt of a gun and blacked out.

Rhys groaned at the pain of his bruised cheek before realizing he was being dragged. He looked up to see that a nomad was dragging him on the ground accompanied by two other marauders.

 _"Just my luck to run into bandits after barely escaping death,"_ Rhys thought to himself frustratingly. Pandora was brutally unfair. Then he felt himself being tossed like a ragdoll before the heat that followed helped him realize he was tossed on a fire.

Rhys screamed and rolled around on the ground frantically trying to put out the flames. When the flames finally died out and his skin felt like a medium rare skag steak, he could hear the other bandits laughing.

"Fun to watch to watch Hyperions burn, don't ya think Spike?" the nomad said.

 _"How'd they even... Oh, right. My shirt,"_ Rhys thought as he glanced at his bandit captors. _"For them, it's impressive they could even do that."_

"'Course I do. But, care to make this a game?" a bandit asked, making Rhys' immediately focus his ears on what they were saying. This did not sound promising at all.

"Whaddya have in mind?" another bandit asked.

"We each get 5 minutes with him. Whoever makes him cry, beg for mercy, or ask for death wins," the other bandit said. Rhys froze. They were gonna torture him near to death. But then again, if he helped someone win this 'game' early, that could mean an early death for him. Hopefully he could stay strong so he wouldn't die. Hopefully.

"You got yourself a deal. Who's first?" the nomad asked.

"Me! I'll make this meat puppy do all three in that order before you know it," the second bandit said, grabbing Rhys by the back of his neck and tossing him into a house. He still had his stun baton on him, but he wouldn't be able to overpower all three of these bandits. Not in this state. And something told Rhys these bandits knew it too.

The bandit drew a knife from his pocket and grabbed Rhys' good arm before stabbing him under his elbow. Rhys grunted, but compared to ripping off his arm, it wasn't that bad.

Then he felt the blade drag toward the palm of his hand. The muscles and nerves that were in his arm were lit on fire, but he knew he was dead if he didn't stay strong. So his back bent to where his knees almost made contact with the bandit, but he stayed quiet.

"You will cry for me Hyperion!" the bandit exclaimed, dragging the blade quickly through his hand.

Rhys stifled a scream by chomping on his tongue, which started bleeding as soon as he did it. Blood was freely dripping down his left arm. The cut was so deep, he felt his arm was hanging limp like a dead piece of meat. The bandit was getting extremely frustrated, and Rhys could tell.

The bandit put the knife up and went for a pipe that was lying in a corner. Fearful for where he might aim, Rhys kept his legs closed. The bandit reeled back for a swing and struck Rhys straight in his knee, hearing a sharp crack.

"AGH!" Rhys yelled, his body stiffening from the pain. His arm was almost useless in trying to give that leg some minor comfort.

"Spike! Meatstick! Grease! Get your asses out here!" a bandit from outside yelled. The bandit named Grease threw the pipe in a corner angrily.

"What the hell's got him pissed off? We're busy here!" he asked.

"I dunno, but let's go see. If we end up dying cause we didn't listen, I'm going to take your face and give it to the psychos," Meatstick said, walking outside. The others followed behind him. At least he got a little luck. Now was his chance before they came back.

Rhys weakly rose to his good leg while his arm and broken leg were hanging limp. He lifted his good leg up high and got out the window. Rhys kept limping with his injured arm, which was of little use and his broken leg of no use. Then he saw that a bandit was hanging outside his Technical. This was his only chance to get out of here alive.

Rhys limped behind the Technical while keeping low enough so the bandit wouldn't see him before banging his head on the side so he would hear it. Though in his current state, even though he didn't hit it very hard, his head was spinning.

"Who the hell is that?" the bandit asked before beginning to walk around his Technical.

With all the self control that it took him, he grabbed his stun baton out of his pocket without screaming and jammed it right into the bandit's face. He hurt so bad, he didn't even have anything witty to say about the way the bandit convulsed when he shocked him.

Rhys put the baton up and took the Dahl pistol he saw on the bandit. He ground his teeth trying to pick up the weapon, but he knew he would need something if things got bad. He then hopped in the Technical and drove off to the best place he thought he had a chance. The Atlas base.

Steering with his elbow, which was his only real option, he went off toward the Atlas base and walked inside. He could only hope there was some type of medical aid nearby. Having to open doors with his very injured arm, he searched drawers, cabinets, lockers, and everything of the sort before finally finding a healing hypo.

"Finally!" Rhys exclaimed, placing the hypo on a table. He would have to inject this weirdly. He put his leg on the table behind the hypo while having his arm right against the table.

He rolled his sleeve up with his teeth before using his foot to force the hypo in his arm. He felt the large cut begin to seal and his arm felt good again. But Rhys could see the large distinct scar that it left. He had to admit, it was pretty cool. But he would've preferred if it didn't happen at all.

He found some and he sat in a chair to eat some of the drakefruit around the base. Once he was satisfied, everything that happened caught up to him all at once.

Loader Bot was dead, and he didn't know where the hell Vaughn or Yvette was. He hadn't heard from Vaughn since the transmission full of static on Helios. And he didn't even know if Yvette survived. Then there was Fiona and Sasha.

He felt bile rise up in his throat at the thought of them. They had left him on Helios to die. If Loader Bot didn't come back for him, he would've died back on Helios. They resented Hyperions for being lying murderous scumbags, but after what they did, that didn't make them any different. He thought they were friends.

Then he remembered Jack. He knew that all people on Pandora hated Jack and Hyperion with every fiber of their being, and he wouldn't have minded if they had actually shown that resentment toward him. But to pretend to be friendly and then leave him for dead was a dick move. Even for a Hyperion.

He had grown close to the two con artists as much as he hated to admit it at this point. It would never replace the bond he, Vaughn, and Yvette had, but he still regarded them as friends. Sasha perhaps more. Never in a million years did he imagine that he would actually grow close to the Pandoran con artists, but he did. And now that he did, it hurt like hell that they didn't give a shit about him when it came down to it.

Rhys sighed before looking around his base. He was grateful that he folded the Atlas rights in his pocket instead of keeping them in the frame. This was the start of a new chapter in his story.

* * *

A/N: Not a long chapter, but it's a work in progress. Lemme know what you thought of it. Since I'm a big fan of Tales From The Borderlands, I hope this turns out good. Also, this story isn't going to have too much torture, but we'll still see enough violence for this story to live up to its M rating.


	2. Chapter 2 - Finding Food

A/N: I'm trying take this as slow as I can, but I'm a very impatient motherfucker. It'll be a few chapters until Fiona and the others will see the new Rhys. I'll definitely enjoy writing that one. Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Rhys was nervous as he walked outside of the boundaries of his Atlas base. He was kind of scared he'd get shot before he even had a chance to do anything, but the feeling of fear was better than the feeling of starving.

Rhys used the Technical he stole from the bandit to drive to Hollow Point. It was the only place he could remember that had some type of civilization.

He parked his car in Scooter's garage. He remembered that the mechanic gave his life so they could survive and he was hit with a pang of sadness. But he couldn't brood on it for as long as he wanted to.

Rhys closed the garage doors and locked the place down before leaving. He didn't want anyone to steal the only form of transportation he had while looking around the town for some place that could give him something to eat. If it came down to it, he'd break into a house and steal some food. Whatever was necessary.

Rhys walked around the place with his face locked in a permanent frown. He didn't want to walk around with a gun in his hand because he wanted people to think he was unarmed. He'd summon his gun with his ECHO and blast them in their faces in a second flat if they threatened him.

The closest thing to finding something to eat was a bar. It's likely it only had drinks, but he had to start somewhere. He could see a big bouncer outside of the door, but he'd easily pay him off to get in if necessary. He didn't want to start unnecessary trouble.

Once he neared the bar, Rhys heard high pitched squeals behind him and he quickly wheeled around. There were two midget psychos running toward him with knives. Rhys drew a shock Atlas revolver before blasting both midgets in the head before they even got within five feet of him.

"I've had enough psychos for a lifetime," Rhys said in a moody tone. He spun the revolver with his middle finger before putting it back in his ECHO. He ignored the bouncer standing in front of the bar and walked in.

When he walked inside, the place was completely empty except for a few stray drunks here and there. But he could see there was no one at the counter. He frowned.

"What does it take to get service around here?" Rhys said to himself. He then felt a hand forcefully grab his shoulder.

Without even thinking about it, his foot lashed out toward the person's knee, sending them into a kneel before grabbing them by the throat. The simplest way to deal with surprise attackers. Possible variations to the move included a gunshot to the head or a hard kick to the face. But he preferred the death grip of his robotic arm.

He came face to face with one of the drunks and he eyed him distastefully. Looks like he was trying to rob what he saw as a rich person in the wrong neck of the woods.

"You chose the wrong person to rob buddy," Rhys said, his cold frown still on his face. He let out a strangled gurgle with Rhys' grip on his throat. He clawed at Rhys' metal arm, trying his best remove an unrelenting grip to no avail.

"Hey break it up you two," Rhys heard a familiar voice say. Rhys stood up while holding the guy aloft before turning around. He saw that it was August behind him. He really didn't care for his company, but Rhys needed something to eat.

"Tell him that the next time he tries to rob me," he said, dropping him on the ground. The drunk scrambled out of the bar as fast as he could.

"What are you doing here?" Rhys asked. Then he saw that August was holding his side. Did he get hurt?

"For one, I own this place. Secondly, I came back here after I got an escape pod and got out. What happened to you? We didn't see you anywhere near the Vault," August said, noticing Rhys' new cybernetics. He remembered his arm being Hyperion yellow, not silver. And his robotic eye being blue, not a dark yellow. Rhys walked closer to the Pandoran before narrowing his eyes. For reasons August couldn't figure out, it unnerved him.

"You opened the Vault? Did you at least find anything?" he asked. August grimaced.

"No. I had a bullet in my stomach while I watched my mom and half her men die," he said bitterly. As much as Rhys tried to hold it back, he smiled a little at that news. August did not find it as amusing.

"You think that's funny?!" he exclaimed.

"Not funny. I'm just happy to hear that news. There's a difference," Rhys said evenly. August pointed a revolver at Rhys.

"I don't need you anymore at this point. So why don't I just shoot your ass?" August said with an angry snarl on his face.

Rhys reacted by flipping forward on his hands and wrapped his feet around each side of August's waist before tossing him at an empty table. Learning Savate definitely helped him use his legs to his advantage.

Rhys then drew his shock revolver and aimed it at August.

"Guess what jackass? You're not in control here. So why shouldn't I shoot you?" Rhys questioned.

Then he could see the fat bouncer from outside had burst inside. He looked over and saw August on the ground before looking at Rhys and seeing the gun in his hand.

"You don't touch the boss!" Tector exclaimed, drawing his Tediore pistol.

"Oh great," Rhys grumbled moodily, diving behind a table that a bar patron was drinking at. He fell dead from Tector's gunshots. He then saw that August was crawling toward his revolver. He wasn't sure if he should kill him, but he certainly couldn't let him get his revolver.

Rhys shot August's hand right as he was about to pick up the revolver and he held his hand from the pain of the gunshot. The electricity was also melting his skin a little, making him retreat into a corner. That got August was out of the way. But he wasn't sure he could take the big guy. If he wanted to get out of here alive, he had to try.

The gunshots stopped and Rhys could hear heavy footsteps that gradually got louder. He peeked out from behind the table and he saw that Tector was charging toward him. Rhys slid across the floor the next table he saw while firing off the last three bullets in his chamber in Tector's chest. (Sort of like the Black Ops 3 slide. Only it works because of slick floors)

Tector yelled from the pain of the shock bullets and Rhys replaced the chamber in his revolver before changing to a fire SMG.

Tector threw his gun at the table Rhys was hiding behind, the explosion from the reload decimating the table and knocking Rhys into a wall. His shield was also partly drained from the force. All the breath was knocked from his body, but he managed to keep his SMG in his hand.

Without bothering to look down the iron sights, he fired a bunch of bullets into Tector's chest, setting him on fire. Tector started screaming and tried to pat out the fire. This was an opportunity for Rhys.

Sprinting up to Tector while drawing the laser blade he used to sever his mechanical arm during his experiments, he jumped as high as he could before slashing his blade horizontally. Rhys didn't stop there just in case he missed and forced the blade deep into his sternum and forcing it upward.

Tector was still upright, but half of his head fell off with two halves of his body hanging at each side. The laser cauterized the blood flow, but it was still a gruesome sight to witness. This definitely solved the question if he had the balls to kill someone.

But Rhys smiled. A new confidence was instilled in him. After training for so long, he killed someone so much bigger than him. Granted he had better weapons than Tector did, but it still counted.

He turned back to August, who was cradling the half burnt hand Rhys shot. Rhys switched back to his revolver, which was more comfortable in his hand and aimed it at August.

"You gonna kill me?" he asked. Rhys spun the revolver with his right middle finger because he loved to do that. Made him feel like an expert gunslinger.

"No. Not if you find me something to eat. I'm starving," Rhys said simply. August looked up at Rhys in disbelief.

"Food? Is that why you came here in the first place?" he asked.

"Yes. This town is the only place I know that has the remotest bit of civilization. Do you have any or not?" Rhys questioned.

"Yes. In the back. But it's not like I can do anything with a useless hand," August said moodily.

"I lost my entire arm. You wanna trade?" Rhys spat at him. August grit his teeth in anger or in pain. Rhys couldn't tell. But he rose to his feet while cradling his injured hand and inclined his head for Rhys to follow him.

Rhys followed the Pandoran to his back room and gestured to a fridge and a microwave.

"Help yourself jackass," August said moodily before getting some gauze out of a drawer and sitting in a chair. Rhys frowned at him, but decided to focus more on the food in the fridge. Rhys put three steaks on a plate and threw them in the microwave. He hasn't had anything besides drakefruit in months.

Rhys then sat in front of August with his right leg crossed over his left knee in a relaxed position. August tilted his head at Rhys. He split Tector into different pieces with practically no injuries. He definitely wasn't skilled at fighting when August first met him. Or had guns. Just about everything about Rhys was different.

"What have you been doing?" August asked. Rhys looked at August strangely.

"Not a bad question to ask after that I suppose. Hiding out really. Practiced how to fight a little," Rhys answered. He would only say what he wanted to say.

"I see that. And the guns?" August questioned.

"Found them. Plenty of ammo too," Rhys said evenly. August asked average questions as he didn't want piss Rhys off in the current situation he was in. Otherwise, he had a feeling that he'd up with a bullet in his brain.

"So I suppose you want to meet up with Sasha and Fiona," August said, knowing that was the case. It's more than likely his mother killed his Hyperion friend.

Rhys thought about it for a moment. He knew they left him behind because they thought he allowed Handsome Jack to return and forgot about them. He had to admit it was a fair reason, but who's to say they wouldn't kill on the basis that he would become a second Jack after what went down on Helios. Or would just try and deter him.

"No. They'd just get in the way," Rhys said, making August look at him in surprise.

"No?" August questioned.

"No. In fact, if you see them, you didn't see me and I wasn't here. If you tell them that I was..." Rhys said before shooting the wall behind him.

"I get your point. I won't tell them. But did I mention they might be on their way over here?" August asked.

"Dammit," Rhys swore before snatching the steaks out of the microwave while they were half cold and rushing out of the door. He'd cook them later.

He quickly rushed out of the back room and saw that Fiona and Sasha were walking inside the bar. His eyes lingered on Sasha a little longer than necessary before finally reacting and ducking down behind the bar counter and using the cloak option on his arm.

 _"Knew this was going to come in handy one day,"_ Rhys thought with a feeling of satisfaction as his entire body turned invisible.

Staying crouched and moving fast but silently, he snuck from behind the bar as he saw Fiona and Sasha draw their guns after taking in all the chaos Rhys caused.

"What do you think happened?" Sasha asked.

"I dunno, but I'm not sure I would like the answer to that. Do you think August managed to survive?" Fiona asked.

"I think we oughtta check the back before we come to any conclusions," Fiona said, inclining her head to the back room.

Rhys silently moved to the wall and watched as the two women moved past him and went in the back room. He then stood to his feet and walked out the door and started sprinting down the street with the steaks still in his hand.

"Dammit, that was close," Rhys said to himself before heading back to Scooter's garage. He quickly hopped back in his Technical before opening the garage door and closing it wirelessly with his arm's technology. The screech of the tires was loud, which meant it was loud to anyone nearby.

He quickly made a break down the street while looking behind him. Faintly, he could see Sasha and Fiona rush out of the bar. But he was way to far for them to shoot him with an SMG and a pistol.

Rhys drove the car with his metal hand while eating a steak with the other before the taste reminded him that these were only half cooked. He swallowed it anyway because food was still scarce at this point. He definitely couldn't go back to Hollow's Point on the risk of being caught by those two again. They were the only ones who really had an excuse to track him down. For the sake of his company, he couldn't let that happen.

Once Rhys got back to the base, he made a small bonfire and cooked the steaks with his metal hand over the fire since it didn't have nerves. Once they were fully cooked, Rhys had a decent meal before he decided to get back to training.

* * *

"You sure he was here?" Sasha asked.

August face palmed. He didn't know how many times he had to say it.

"For the hundredth time, yes. He turned my bouncer into a two and a half piece combo before nearly melting my hand. I'm definitely sure," he insisted while holding his bandaged hand up.

Fiona frowned before looking at the bouncer's corpse. She knew the bouncer was definitely dumb, but strong. The Rhys she knew could barely survive, much less kill anyone. Nor did he have a weapon that was deadly enough for something like this. If anything, this looked more like Zer0's work.

"Rhys isn't capable of this. He was barely able to survive, much less do something this gruesome. Even then, just about all the escape pods were gone when we left the station," she told him.

"Maybe I should've invested in some cameras," August murmured while shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's just the fact that Rhys did this is hard to believe," Sasha said, unable to make eye contact with the mutilated corpse.

"I admit, that is hard to believe. But I wouldn't make something like up unless it was true. Do you really think I want to admit I got my ass kicked by Rhys?" August stretched.

"He's not lying," Fiona said. She knew August couldn't stand the Hyperion, so to admit Rhys beat him was something he'd rip his arms off before he would admit that.

"Well, did you tell him that we were here? He might've stayed if that were the case," Sasha asked him, her tone somewhat angry. Sometimes she wondered if she had fallen for Rhys more than he'd fallen for her.

"No. He didn't want to see either of you," August said, making Sasha and Fiona frown even deeper.

"Since when does Rhys go off alone? Especially without us?" Fiona questioned.

"Since he has plans that he'd think you get in the way of. I don't whether the new weapons and technology have gone to his head or what, but he definitely has some plans that he doesn't want you two to ruin," August explained to them. Fiona and Sasha quickly turned to each other with a worried face. That didn't sound like Rhys at all.

"You think Jack may have gotten back in his body?" Sasha asked in a worried tone.

"It's possible. He might have had no options after Rhys made the station crash," Fiona said, her face just as worried. If Handsome Jack was still out there in Rhys' body, then Pandora would have to worry about another generation of Jack. One that would keep going and not stop if they didn't do something about it.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" August questioned. Sasha sighed before she spoke.

"Before we went onto the station, he told the both of us that Handsome Jack's AI was in his cybernetics. That's how Jack was able to control Helios. He had complete command of the system. Rhys stopped him by crashing the station, but there's a chance he escaped and has control over Rhys," Sasha explained with a worried tone.

August had never been directly affected by Handsome Jack, but a few of his relatives were killed because of Hyperion moonshots. If he got his power back, there's no telling how bad things could turn for everyone. But there was one thing he didn't get.

"I have a question. Jack sounds like the type of guy who kills everyone who tries to kill him. So why didn't he kill me rather than just give me an ultimatum?" he asked. Fiona and Sasha looked at each other. Even if Jack knew they were coming, what stopped him from killing August? Would've stopped him from talking in the first place. From the looks of things, he killed everyone in the bar. Why was August any different?

"That's a good question," Fiona said.

"You think Rhys still has a little control?" Sasha asked.

"Possibly. I think Jack's controlling him through his cybernetics. If we get rid of those, Rhys may be ok," Fiona suggested.

"You do realize one of those machine is in his eye, right?" August questioned. Sasha hissed slightly and Fiona couldn't blame her. Ripping that thing out was going to be agonizing. But it had to be done.

"The only place he could've gone was the Atlas base. It's more than likely he's there," Sasha suggested.

"Let's go then," Sasha said, quickly heading out of the door. Fiona tried not to show how worried she was for Rhys. He may have gave up on them for ruling Hyperion, but he risked his life to bring the bastard down. They were going to finish the job.

* * *

A/N: Well, that's the end of that chapter. Again, I'm trying my best to take this slow. But it's more about making entertaining chapters than taking it slow. But I hope you all enjoyed. And of course that scenario would only have happened if the Vault Hunters killed the Zadfords after the clan war. But I made it that way so I could make that fight sequence. Hope it was interesting.


	3. Chapter 3 - Welcoming Old Friends

A/N: I'm finding that I wanna put more work into this than my Male Siren story. cause that's pretty much almost done. This I've barely started, and I very much want to progress with it. So here it is. For all of you who are waiting for the next chapter on my Male Siren story, I promise you'll get it after this chapter. I'm a thousand words in, I've done a little on it. Plus my dad's visiting for a while since the last few months and I've also been into reading other Fanfictions and watching Twitch streams, so updates in general have been slow. Let's continue.

* * *

Rhys blocked the drop kick from the robot and grabbed its feet before slamming it as hard as he could on the opposite side. The robot got back to its feet by spinning on its head and flipping to its feet. But before it could do anything other than that, Rhys jumped at the robot, wrapped his feet around the robot's head and threw it into the wall.

"Relax, will ya?" Rhys said with a smile. He was getting better at this. It was actually getting fun.

The robot slowly rose to its feet before facing Rhys again. It approached him slowly with its robotic fists raised before it suddenly stopped. Rhys got of out of his stance and looked at the robot curiously.

"Intruder alert. Awaiting orders," the robot said. Rhys checked the security cameras he had pointing out toward the distance through his ECHO eye and saw the trailer that Sasha and Fiona normally ride in heading toward him.

"Dammit. Lock the place down. Get the shield up. If they somehow get in, subdue them," Rhys told the robot. More robots that were made leaped from their storage spots and walked off toward the front. Rhys had to get moving.

"August, you are a fucking dead man," Rhys said angrily before stomping off.

* * *

"We're almost there," Fiona told Sasha. At these words, Sasha lifted her SMG and swapped the clip for a full one with a dead serious face. August spun the chamber in his revolver with a frown. He was intent on getting Rhys back for that bar situation. Well, Jack Rhys. Whatever.

Then all of a sudden, the trailer flipped over from some invisible force once they tried to get within 10 meters of the place. The three of them yelled from the surprise before they landed on the roof.

"Everyone alright?" Fiona asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Looks like we're here, but we can't get in using the van," Sasha said.

"Can we just walk inside?" August asked.

"I doubt it'll be that easy," Fiona said, crawling over to a window and opening it so she could crawl out. She stood to her feet and approached where they crashed before tapping a finger on it. It didn't hurt her, but the shield forced her hand back forcefully to the point where she almost turned ninety degrees.

"I'm guessing we can't just walk in," Sasha said, going up to her.

"No. If we touch that thing with our bodies, it'll have more force than an angry Bullymong," Sasha said.

"So what are we supposed to do against a shield like this? We don't have the ammo or the firepower to even put a small hole in a shield like this," August said, crossing his arms moodily. Sasha and Fiona hated to admit it, but he was right. There was no way they could get in this place.

"Did you say he came to your place looking for food?" Sasha asked August. Fiona looked toward her sister.

"What are you thinking?" she asked her. Sasha barely spared her sister a glance before turning back to August.

"Did he?" she asked with a more insistent tone, bordering on impatience.

"Yeah, he did. Why?" August asked.

"Well, I'm guessing he doesn't have much food. We'll have to starve him out," Sasha suggested. Fiona looked at her sister strangely.

"You can't be serious," Fiona said. The look Sasha gave Fiona struck her to the core. It was on the border of desperation.

"What choice do we have Fi?" Sasha said, her tone serious and slightly sad at the same time. Fiona definitely had a bad feeling about this.

"Fine. We'll wait it out. We still have a little food in the trailer to wait. Plus we have nothing else to do," Fiona finally said. August shook his head at the two girls. He should've never gone along with theses two. They were going to be out here for days.

"I'll stay out here. I need the air," August said, crossing his hands and not turning his eyes away from the Atlas base. Fiona and Sasha walked inside and August sighed once they did.

"I'm surprised that they haven't already gotten killed cause of this Hyperion asshole," August muttered sullenly.

"No, but you'll be a dead son of a bitch because of this 'Hyperion asshole,'" Rhys said with his arms crossed and his robots beside him as backup. August drew his revolver, but Rhys beat him to the punch and shot him in his hand. Sasha and Fiona immediately turned around and pointed their guns at him.

"Jack, you get the hell out of Rhys," Sasha growled angrily. The frown on Rhys' face got even deeper at that statement.

"In case you haven't noticed, he was in my Hyperion cybernetics. Not these ones," Rhys said, raising up his platinum hand while keeping the gun in his real hand.

"That doesn't sound-" Before Sasha could say any more, four robots came up from behind the both of them and held their hands. The guns were forced out of their hand while Rhys approached August.

"You know, when I said don't say anything, I meant it," Rhys said in an unusually calm voice. Rhys then walked over to August's fallen form and gripped August's left elbow has hard as he could with his robotic hand.

The loud crunching sound that followed nearly made Rhys wince from the sound, but he stayed firm. He couldn't afford to show weakness.

Sasha and Fiona winced at the sight and August yelled out in pain. Rhys held his tight grip on August's shoulder before gripping his neck with his real hand and forcing the Pandoran to make eye contact with him.

"Now, give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you that's good enough to counter the reason why I should," Rhys asked in the same calm tone. Rhys was hardly a malicious person. Unless the situation was dire, he was the type to handle things with unusual calmness. Well, if he wasn't freaking out already.

"Cause I thought Handsome Jack is in your body. They had to know that. Whether I could've died or not," August lied. Rhys wasn't the best with catching people in lies, so he figured he was genuine.

"Ok, that's a pretty valid reason. Fine, I won't kill you. Let em go," Rhys told the robots. They let Fiona and Sasha go and they were now shocked. He wasn't Handsome Jack. This was Rhys. With his mind whole.

"So, what was that thing about not wanting to see us?" Sasha questioned irritably. The expression she wasn't expecting on Rhys' face was irritation.

"Why'd you all leave me behind on Helios? If I recall, I'm the one who got the damn hangar bay open," he said with a wide frown. Sasha and Fiona returned the irritation with just as much vigor.

"Firstly Mr. _Hyperion,"_ Fiona said, her tone laced with venom from the word. "We didn't leave you. Those bastards Finch and Kroger turned on us the moment we got the last part of Gortys. We barely got out alive on an escape pod." Rhys looked somewhat embarrassed about the misunderstanding. That reminded them that Rhys was still Rhys. Just not as much of the old Rhys.

"Oh. My bad. Though my concern was valid," Rhys said.

"It was a valid concern, I'll give you that much. Now it's your turn. What was this about plans you didn't want us involved in?" Fiona questioned. Before Rhys could answer, August interjected impatiently.

"Hey, I hate to interrupt the three of you catching up, but I've got a broken arm here!" he exclaimed, making Rhys roll his eyes.

"Get him inside," Rhys said to the robots while forcefully gesturing to the base. "Come on." Rhys disabled the shield on the base and then putting it back up right after they were in.

Rhys led them to the training center where he was training earlier. A lot of Rhys' blood was around the place from training. But the last thing he had time for was spring cleaning. Plus the blood was a nice touch to the place. Fiona and Sasha looked around the base and noticed the considerable amount of blood in the room, which worried them a bit.

The robots were behind the three of them while carrying August none too gently. They placed him on a mat and injected him with a hypo, which healed his arm quick enough. Rhys then faced the robots.

"Stand by," he told them. They went back to their storage spaces and shut themselves down before facing Fiona and Sasha. "Alright. Ask away."

"What plans did you have that you didn't want to involve us in?" Sasha asked. He smiled a little before pulling the rights to Atlas out of his pocket and showing them. Their eyes widened.

"You own Atlas now?" the two women said at the same time.

"Yup. Most likely if I involved you two with this you would probably kill me on the principle that you would think Handsome Jack was in my head for trying to do such a thing," Rhys explained.

"We- We wouldn't do that," Fiona said, knowing it was somewhat true if he came up to them like that. By the look on Rhys' face, he obviously did not believe her.

"Uh-huh. Sure. But I've got one priority before doing that. Finding Vaughn," he told them, crossing his arms. Fiona and Sasha looked at him sadly.

"At this point, that seems unlikely Rhys. The last time we saw him was with Vallory, and we all know what that could've lead to," Sasha said somewhat sadly. Rhys shook his head.

"No, he contacted me while we were on Helios. Wherever he is, he's surviving. But I can't be sure. I _will_ find him," Rhys said with a steely tone. Fiona had never heard the former Hyperion speak with such a resolute tone in his voice.

"Well, do you have anything to go on?" Fiona questioned.

"He told he didn't know where they were, but Cassius saved him. I checked the other Atlas base, and they weren't there. I'm trying to narrow down places they could possibly be. I'm coming up empty right now," Rhys said, frowning.

"Can we help?" Fiona asked. Rhys frowned.

"Hell, I'll definitely take what help I can get. But there's probably not much you can do," Rhys said, before wincing from his regular arm. "Ah, goddammit."

"You alright?" Sasha asked.

"I'm fine," Rhys said, shaking his regular arm. "Must've practiced a little too hard today."

"Obviously," Sasha said, looking away from him and looking at the blood around the place. Man, what did Rhys turn into? By the looks of things, he had not taken it easy these last few months. Rhys followed where she was looking at and waved a dismissive arm.

"Atlas training isn't a joke. Trust me," Rhys said, pointing at the various scratches on his face. Sasha smirked.

"Aren't you afraid that would damage what looks you have?" she asked rhetorically. Rhys nearly smiled, but he kept his face even.

"Learning to survive is a better trade. I'll be back. Don't mess any of my stuff," Rhys said, leaving the room with a smooth stride. Sasha's smirk was replaced with a sad frown. Fiona put a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just hate how much he's changed. This isn't the Rhys we know," Sasha said, looking at the door Rhys left through and shook her head slightly.

"You're right about that. Something's up with him," Fiona said.

"What are you thinking?" Sasha asked. Fiona noticed his real arm had some type of mark on it, but she couldn't really see it.

"I'm thinking it has something to do with his arm. Did you see the way he winced earlier?" she asked.

"Yeah. Looked like he wanted to hide it," Sasha noted. "Should we get him to raise his sleeve?"

"No need," Rhys said, walking back inside while holding his arm out with the sleeve still up. "I knew you were going to be talking about me. You wanna know, you pull it back."

"Rhys..." Fiona trailed, but Rhys was firm.

"No. She wants to know what happened? She's gotta lift up the sleeve. Either her or you. You pick," Rhys said, his face stony. Sasha hesitated, but she took ahold of the front of his sleeve and started pulling it back.

What she saw was a scar that stretched from the palm of Rhys' hand to his elbow. She hissed and so did Fiona. It looked really painful as it stretched from the palm of his hand to his elbow. On both sides.

"Damn..." Sasha said, looking at the scar. "What happened?"

"Bandits. They got of ahold of me when I was trying to get away from the station," Rhys said simply.

"How'd you get out?" Fiona asked.

"They left for a moment and I managed to sneak out of a window. I stole one of their vehicles and got out of there," Rhys told them.

"How'd you steer? It wouldn't seem like your hand wouldn't be of much use at that moment," Sasha asked.

"Had to use the right side of my elbow here," Rhys said, pointing to one side of his elbow. "It wasn't easy, nor was it painless. But I lived."

"Well, I'm glad you got out. But... you've changed quite a bit," Sasha said.

"In spades. Now, you're welcome to stay. Just don't mess with the stuff I'm making," Rhys said, walking out and pulling up his sleeves all the way. The two sisters looked at each other in concern.

"You think he'll be ok?" Sasha asked.

"Let's keep an eye on him. I'm afraid if he can't find Vaughn, he'll get worse. Let's just be here and keep him calm as best we can as his friends," Fiona explained. August got off the bench with a groan.

"And you expect an ex-Hyperion worker to control himself if he gets the power? Get the fuck out of here with that," he said. Sasha and Fiona looked at him with irritated expressions.

"What do you suggest?" Sasha snapped.

"Kill him. Be done with it," August said bluntly. Fiona slapped him on his cheek for that. Sasha looked like she wanted to do worse than that.

"I don't care that he beat your ass. We're not doing that," Fiona said firmly.

"So what do we do? We wait until he tries to kill us?" August asked, his tone somewhat angry.

"If he's going to kill anyone, it's going to be you. And I won't blame him if you do something stupid like you tend to do," Sasha snapped. August seemed to have nothing to say to that and walked away. Fiona sighed. She knew this was going to be rough.

* * *

A/N: This was a bit of a struggle to write. Ideas were coming in slow. Hopefully the next chapter will be better. And when I said Sasha and Fiona weren't going to be introduced for a while, I meant soon. Surprise!


	4. Chapter 4 - Getting Some Things Straight

A/N: I can say that I might be very fucking booked. I've got Hyperion Vault Hunter to update, this, and my Harry Potter fanfic. I'm sincerely hoping you all don't want the Hammerlock's Hunt story too badly, cause you're going to kill me. lol. Kidding. But it will be a lot of work. I hope you all enjoy it!

* * *

"Ah, fuck!" Rhys said, shaking his human hand furiously from the pain. "This is why I hate making shock weapons."

"Maybe you should replace that arm with a robot hand as well," Sasha suggested, walking in the door to his office and knocking extremely late. Almost sarcastically. He looked up at her and shook his head while trying to hide his smile.

"No thanks. If I do that, I'll be a chest plate and legs away from being a loader," Rhys said, rubbing the shocked part of his hand. Well, _one_ of the shocked parts. This had happened three times not counting now.

"Why do you keep shocking yourself, anyway?" Sasha asked. He took the electric core out of one of the parts he had set aside for assembly before showing her.

"Turns out that if you don't put in shock cores right, they act pretty volatile. Hence, me getting shocked. Slag, fire, and corrosion don't act this way for some reason, but I'm grateful for that," Rhys said, trying to insert the core again.

"Why not use your robotic hand? I doubt a few small electric shocks will shut it down," Sasha suggested.

"You'd be correct. My arm is actually grounded, so it won't do anything really. But if I don't hold the sides here..." Rhys said, pointing to each side of the part. "The core will end up falling out before I can assemble the gun. I need both hands to lock the sides to the core in place."

"That still doesn't answer why you use your human hand," Sasha said.

"I'm getting to that. If I insert the core wrong and I'm holding the part, the electricity travels through the metal and through my actual hand with a more amped up voltage. Pretty making the shocks potentially deadly," Rhys explained.

"And you have to go through all of this to make a gun? Makes me wonder how all the corporations got as far as they did when they didn't have workers," Sasha said.

"So do I. Maybe they can give me some pointers. Ow, goddammit!" Rhys yelled after shocking himself for the fourth time. Sasha had to restrain her laughter.

"He's still yelling!" Fiona yelled through the wall.

"I know that! Give me a minute!" Sasha yelled back. Rhys tilted his head at Sasha.

"You only came here to get me to shut up, didn't you?" he asked.

"Duh. Well, that and to get away from August. He's still complaining," Sasha said, as Rhys turned the core to a different spot.

"When _isn't_ he complaining?" he questioned, putting the sides together and the core not shocking him. "Finally."

"Why do you need to align the cores? Would it really make any difference?" Sasha asked.

"If you count the weapon randomly shocking the holder, then yes. It does make a difference," Rhys said, assembling the parts together. The weapon started coming together as Rhys started putting the parts together. The result came out a laser. Sasha looked at it curiously.

"That doesn't look like a traditional weapon," Sasha said.

"You're right. It's not. It's a laser. I'm surprised Atlas even had the parts to make it. I figured Hyperion were the first ones to make lasers with the other corporations falling not too far behind. Guess I was wrong," Rhys said, turning the weapon and examining it.

"I never even know a laser existed as a weapon. That's pretty cool, but what special abilities does it have? It'll just be an average laser if you don't give it a special ability," Sasha said.

"I realize this. That's why I did design it with something special. This laser bounces between enemies, but that's not what makes it good. That alone would make it kind of bland. It can harness the electricity from the person's body and shock weapon to pool it into the next shot. Sort of like a draining shot," Rhys explained.

"That's pretty good. Mind if I try it?" Sasha asked, reaching for the rifle.

"When I make more of them. This is only the prototype. When I make more, you can _probably_ have one," Rhys stressed. Sasha raised an eyebrow.

"What's it going to cost me?" she asked.

"How about this. When you stop being so stubborn as to letting your sister preventing us from going on a date, I'll let you have one," Rhys said, putting the gun in his ECHO before walking away. Sasha got a stern look on her face before following him.

"I do _not_ let my sister prevent us from going on a date. I refused you because I not want to go on a date," she said in a defiant tone. Rhys shook his head.

"Your tone only proves my point," Rhys said in a resigned voice.

"Most guys would be happy that they don't have to go on dates," Sasha said.

"Well I would be happy about it if we could make out for once and not have your sister interrupt us. I swear, ever since I admitted I liked you, Fiona glares daggers at me EVERY TIME we're together, and it's pissing me off," Rhys said in a moody tone.

"So what, you want me to tell her to get lost?" Sasha asked.

"Do _something_ before I end up doing it myself. And I'm trying to keep my patience," Rhys said, pinching the bridge of his nose and rubbing his forehead free of stress. Sasha looked at him in concern. She had never seen him so stressed.

"You ok?" she asked. Rhys turned toward her while still rubbing his temples.

"I just feel stressed about this whole Atlas situation. I gotta make weapons, and sell them to get this corporation on its feet. I have to recruit workers and soldiers, rebuild these Atlas bases, make new ones, handle franchising, mass production, worry about new enemies, watch for traitors..." Sasha had to grab his hands and get him to calm down. His wild gestures and frantic ranting was bordering on pure panic.

"Rhys, Rhys! Calm down. Look, I know you've got a lot on your plate, but don't stress yourself out over it. Take it one step at a time. If your other weapons end up as good as this, then you're bound to succeed Company Man," she said with a reassuring smile. Rhys relaxed in his movements and put his hands at his sides. She was the only one who could really get him to calm down this fast.

"Thanks for the reassurance, but I don't even know if this weapon works," Rhys said, summoning the laser back to his hand.

"Which is why you should let me test it," Sasha said, making Rhys give her an 'are you serious?' look. She let out a small whine before bouncing up and down without her feet leaving the ground.

"Oh, come on! You can not make the first laser I've seen without me wanting to try it," she said, making Rhys shake his head in disbelief. "I'll talk to her if you just let me hold it! If I can get her to stop, you have to let me try it. _Please,_ Rhys?"

"You get to hold it _after_ you talk to her," Rhys said, holding the laser out of her reach. He was about a good half a foot above her now. Sasha groaned.

"Your new attitude is hotter, but it sure is annoying at times," Sasha said, walking away. Rhys turned slightly red before putting the laser back into his ECHO.

 _"Note to self, be a lot more conditional in just about everything,"_ Rhys thought before sitting back down on his desk.

* * *

 _"Other than having to scavenge for food every now and then, I think I like this new lifestyle,"_ Sasha thought when she walked out of Rhys' office. As soon as she veered around the corner, she bumped directly into her sister, knocking them both to the ground. She didn't have to guess to hard to figure out where she was going.

"Hey Fi," Sasha said, rubbing the top of her head before getting up.

"Hey. I figured you two would've been making out," Fiona said, getting up and dusting herself off.

"We probably would've if not for you," Sasha said. Fiona raised an eyebrow.

"Me? Why me?" she asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow. She had a feeling it had something to do with Rhys.

"My boyfriend seems to be under the impression that you deliberately interrupt us whenever we try to spend quality time together," Sasha said, making Fiona frown. Yup. Rhys put her up to this.

"Do you _have_ to call him that? Seriously, it's just weird when I think of you and Rhys like that," she said, shaking her head as if trying to forget it. Sasha frowned. Maybe Rhys had a point.

"Yes I do. Because that what he is. Whether you like it or not," Sasha said, crossing her arms. "What, are you still holding a grudge from the Jack situation?"

"No. That is not the reason," Fiona said in a tone so serious that Sasha almost believed her.

"You do. I can tell. Yeah, he may have let Jack have a chance of coming back, but do you even know what running Hyperion offered him?" she asked.

"What does it matter what it offered him? That's no excuse!" Fiona said. Sasha shook her head.

"Running Hyperion offered him the chance to get Vallory off our back. Find Vaughn, who was God knows where. It also gave him an opportunity to make sure we wouldn't have to ever go back to Pandora and make him feel like he accomplished something in his life. How do you even begin to make a decision opposing against that with all of that weighing on you mind?" Sasha explained, going into a big rant. Fiona frowned. She seemed to know a lot about Rhys wanted.

"How do you even know all of this?" Fiona asked.

"Because I asked him about it, and he told me," Sasha said in a simple tone. Like she was telling someone the sky was blue.

"What? The three of us asked him, and he didn't say a word. But he said something to you?" Fiona said in a disbelieving tone.

"Yes. Curious as to why? I didn't interrogate him about it like you tried to do," Sasha said evenly. "Plus I don't think he would say a thing if August was around."

"He could've been lying," Fiona said, starting to run low on arguments. "Who knows what his intentions were?"

"Yeah, he could've been lying about most of those reasons, but you can be sure he wasn't lying about wanting to find Vaughn. He is to Rhys what I am to you. What would you do then?" Sasha questioned, making Fiona speechless for a second.

She honestly had no good retort for that. She would've done anything to ensure the safety of her sister.

"But this is different," Fiona said, trying to maintain her argument.

"How? Because he's Hyperion? Hyperion is still filled with shitty people. Well, _was,_ but this is a different Rhys. And are you forgetting he nearly killed himself to get rid of Jack?" Sasha asked.

"Only cause Jack planned on killing him. And he could've just as easily killed us. And what about the people he killed on Helios? They were Hyperion shitbags, but they were still people who hadn't really done anything wrong," Fiona argued.

"Need I remind you that Handsome Jack kills whoever he wants? Even his own workers? If half of the workers weren't dead by the time the week was out, I would be surprised," Sasha said. But she couldn't defend that action in too much of a good light.

"Yeah, but still..." Fiona trailed, but Sasha cut her off.

"Fi. Listen to me. I remember when I even thought he turned his back on us after Jack made that announcement. But even you told me that it may have not been what we thought. What changed?" Sasha asked. Fiona shook her head.

"I can't deal with this now," Fiona said, turning to walk away. But Sasha moved fast to get in front of her.

"No. You've got a problem. Let's deal with it. That's what we do, remember?" she asked. Fiona sighed.

"Fine, you want to talk about it? Let's deal with it. I don't like when he's around you. I want to punch him in the face every time he is," Fiona said in a half angry, half serious tone.

"Ok, let's deal with that. Why do you hate him so much? We've cleared up the Helios incident, or at least I think we're past that now. What else?" Sasha asked.

"He's Hyperion..."

"Atlas now."

"He's a jackass..."

"Of course he is. We all are. What else you got?"

"What's with that dumb shy face he makes whenever he looks at you? It makes me want to throw up." Sasha had to smile at that one.

"I like that face he makes. Reminds me he's still a big goof even through the guns and badass martial arts moves," she said with a wide smile.

"Oh, God. Now you have that smile," Fiona said, groaning. Then it hit Sasha before smiling.

"Ah, I see what it is now. It isn't the fact you hate Rhys. You're just dealing with a big can of jealousy right now," Sasha said. Fiona almost wanted to hit her sister for that statement.

"Of you and Rhys? Hardly," Fiona said, refusing to make eye contact with Sasha.

"Look at me and say that with a straight face," Sasha said, calling her sister's bluff. Fiona threw her hands up in frustration.

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

"I really want you to stop interrupting us when we're making out. Unless we're being attacked, someone's dying, or we run out of food, I don't want you to interrupt us," Sasha told her before putting a reassuring arm on her shoulder. "And don't worry. You'll find someone too. Then men on this planet would have to be brain dead not to."

"Fine. You can have your alone time," Fiona said, disregarding Sasha's last statement before moving to the side of Sasha and walked past her. Sasha watched her sister walk away and sighed. She didn't like to see her sister upset. There really wasn't much she could do about that.

"Did you talk to her?" Rhys asked, wrapping his arms around Sasha's waist from behind her while resting his chin on her shoulder. She smiled slightly before it disappeared.

"Yeah. Turns out her reason for interrupting us is because she's lonely herself," she told him.

"That's a rough thing to deal with. This may be kind of personal, but has Fiona ever been in a relationship with anyone?" Rhys asked.

"No. She's only had me really. The only person I've ever seriously dated was August," Sasha said.

"Well, she's pretty cool when she isn't after my blood like she normally is. I don't really see why either. Unless she treats other dudes like she treats me most of the time," Rhys explained.

"No. And that's the problem. When she even pretends not to act like a con woman, no one tries to flirt with her or anything. Any suggestions?" Sasha asked.

"Well, either she joins us in a relationship or seeks one with August. Both are pretty terrible ideas," Rhys said.

"The first one might not be a bad idea," Sasha said, making Rhys momentarily stunned from what she just said.

"Wait, what? Are you serious?" Rhys said, taking his hands off his girlfriend and looking at Sasha in disbelief.

"No, I'm not serious. I think you sounded a little _too_ hopeful on that one," she said, raising a suspicious eyebrow. "What, you like her too?"

"I feel like no matter how I answer this question, I'm going to get hit, so I'm going to stay silent," Rhys said. Sasha smiled before kissing him on the cheek.

"Smart," she said before holding out her hand. "A deal's a deal though. Let me hold the laser."

Rhys sighed before handing her the laser. She looked at the weapon with somewhat of an awe and smiled as she aimed it at different walls. And she did this for about a minute straight. During which Rhys started tapping his foot in impatience.

"This thing is so cool. You did a good job," Sasha said, handing the laser back to him and give him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll let you get back to work." Then she walked off.

Rhys shook his head at his girlfriend before walking back to his workshop. But for some reason, there was something he just couldn't shake out of his head and it was becoming really distracting. He disregarded it and decided to try and focus on his work the best he could.

* * *

A/N: Everyone knows that loneliness will eventually set inside of a person's mind. It's all part of a person's need for acceptance and companionship. Fiona is no excuse. This chapter was just making note of that. Anyway, hope you enjoyed da chapter.


	5. Chapter 5 - Mystery Kidnapper

A/N: That last chapter was a big time jump. Like a few months ahead.

* * *

"Fiona! Fiona!" Sasha yelled throughout the base. "Fiona!" Rhys had burst out of his office to see what the fuss was about.

"Look, as sexy as your voice is, can you keep it down? I need to work," he said impatiently. Sasha shook her head.

"No, I can't seem to find Fiona. When was the last time you saw her?" she asked me.

"Not recently. Been a few days since we've even talked. Did you ask August?" Rhys questioned.

"He's not here either. You think they're both mad at us?" Sasha asked.

"August, sure. I am dating his ex, I.E., you. He has reason to be pissed at me. Fiona? That's a bit harder to figure out," Rhys deduced.

"We need to go looking for them. Plus didn't you say that you know where Vaughn might be?" Sasha questioned.

"I said I had an lead. That doesn't mean it's clear cut," Rhys said, trying not to get his hopes up.

"Lead, know. Whatever. Regardless, we need to address both situations. Get your Technical and let's go," Sasha said, holding up her Atlas SMG and walking toward the storage area where they had the car. Rhys simply shook his head. He didn't know where his girlfriend was going to get him into. Hopefully, they're both properly prepared for whatever it is.

When they both got to the garage, they noticed that the Technical was missing.

"Ok, what the hell. The only people who could get the Technical without breaking the shield is Fiona or August, and the shield is still up," Rhys deducted.

"Well, I'd trust August to take the Technical. But what about Fiona?" Sasha asked.

"That one worries me. But we have no vehicle to get far without dying of thirst in the middle of this place," Rhys said logically.

"Dammit Rhys, we have to try," Sasha told him.

"Hey, I didn't say that we weren't going to try. I sincerely hope we don't run into more trouble. We've had enough of it for a lifetime," Rhys said, walking back to his building room before sighing. "God, this is getting really old really fast."

Once in his office, he picked up his ECHO off the table and locked it on to the back of his belt, just above his right back pocket. He then walked out of the room before summoning the laser he made to his hand before thinking about. Maybe taking them alive was a better option. He decided to swap it for the non elemental SMG meeting Sasha outside.

"You got plenty of gear?" she asked. Rhys nodded.

"Plenty of bullets too, but not enough food or water," Rhys mentioned tersely. Sasha's frown got even deeper at this news.

"We'll have to make do. Maybe we'll run into something that'll help us," she said. Rhys did not like trying his luck with no plan and not being properly prepared. AGAIN.

Nevertheless, they started walking to a nonexistent destination that they couldn't even begin to figure out. They didn't say a word because talking too much would just make them even more desperate for water. They didn't even have to say it to know it.

They had walked for about 30 minutes straight, and Rhys was started to get frustrated with their progress. They hadn't found anything remotely interesting. Not even a skag or rakk to shoot. The boredom was starting to get to Rhys.

"It's been over 30 minutes, and we haven't even found a damn thing!" Rhys exclaimed in a frustrated tone.

"Can you calm down?" Sasha asked.

"No, I cannot. We have no food or water, and we're making a death walk toward the nearest city to see if we can find anything, which we aren't!" Rhys said angrily. Sasha met him in his temper.

"It's better than waiting around!" she snapped at him.

"If we did wait around, we could've at least made a plan!"

"And they could die while we were doing that! Jeez, why are you so emotionless about this whole thing?!"

"Because I don't think dying of thirst in the middle isn't going to help _us,_ much less Fiona and August!"

"God, you've turned into a dick."

"No, I'm turning into a person with common sense. Cause just walking in the middle of nowhere isn't going to help us."

"Why'd you come then?! If this was such a death sentence, why did you even bother to come?!" Sasha screamed at him. Rhys closed his eyes and managed to calm himself down to say his next sentence.

"Because I'm not leaving anywhere without you. If we die, we're dying together," Rhys said tenderly. Sasha's face softened and her cheeks turned slightly red while looking directly forward.

"That's... sweet of you. Thanks," she said gently.

"You're welcome," Rhys said evenly.

"Look, I know this was a bit reckless, but..."

"You don't have to explain," Rhys said simply. Sasha's shoulders slumped before she focused on the terrain in front of her. She sometimes forgot that Rhys may have changed, but he was still Rhys. And she liked him more than she could admit for that.

They kept walking for about 10 minutes before they could see a car in the distance. Rhys used his ECHO eye to enhance his sight and he could see a dude in a suit holding a gun pointed at Fiona while August was working on the Technical.

"You see anything?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah. Fiona is tied up while August has to fix the Technical. Some masked dude has a gun pointed at them. Why does he have the Conference Call though?" Rhys asked curiously.

"The what?" Sasha asked.

"It's a gun Jack showed me back on the base. It's a legendary too. Whoever has it is either Hyperion or some bandit who just happened to come across it," Rhys said, making Sasha bristle with irritation.

"Asshole. Do you think you can get close to him?" she asked.

"I could cloak and get close enough to hold him up, but since we're in a desert area, the dust from the footprints will give me away. You'll have to give me time to go around. Make sure he does not leave before I can get around him," Rhys said, raising his robotic hand and hitting on a button on the digital screen before he disappeared completely.

"Nice," Sasha complimented. There was no comment from Rhys as she could his footprints disappear toward the side. After a few seconds, Rhys talked to her on the earpieces.

"Ok, I'm almost around to get a decent position on him. I'll patch in my ECHO systems so we can hear what they're saying," Rhys said.

"You can do that?" Sasha asked.

"Yup. ECHO eyes work for audio as well as visual," Rhys said before Sasha could begin to hear what they're saying.

"How much longer are you gonna take?" a raspy and echoey voice said. Sasha could assume this was the guy who had them hostage.

"I'm almost finished with this leaky oil drive. Can't believe Rhys missed it..."

"August, shut up," Fiona snapped. "Your complaining about Rhys isn't going to make our situation any better."

"You and Sasha always defend him," August said in an irritated tone.

"We do _not_ always-" A loud shotgun blast from the Conference Call made Sasha raise her SMG up at the stranger and gave her height enough for him to see her. If he was facing her, she would've been spotted.

"Calm down. He just shot the air. Stay down in the sand. Don't let him see you," Rhys hissed. Sasha wish she had an ECHO right now. That was she could keep more than this SMG on her. Like some binoculars. But regardless, she began to lie prone in the sand while waiting.

"Ok, finished. I'm tired of this dusty piece of crap," August said, getting up from under the Technical.

"Get in," the Stranger told them. Sasha knew she had to do something now. Rhys hadn't gotten in position yet. So she rose up from the sand and fired a few shots at the Stranger's feet, which made him move back from behind the car and August and Fiona reel back their feet.

"Hey, maybe you could untie us before we're shot!" Fiona yelled. The stranger didn't even comment. Fiona simply scoffed before saying, "Dick."

Rhys was halfway to the Stranger by the time shots had been fired. He wanted to make sure there was no chance of him seeing his footprints.

He managed to get behind the Technical before climbing on top of it for a better advantage. He drew a shotgun and made it click loud enough for the Stranger to hear it before he took off the cloaking.

"Drop it," Rhys growled in a low tone. The stranger froze for a minute before the Conference Call fell to the ground with a clatter. Rhys jumped off the Technical and grabbed the Conference Call while keeping his shotgun pointed at the stranger.

"You showed up just in time," Fiona said. Rhys simply tossed her his laser sword so she could free herself. She managed get the bindings off her and handed Rhys his sword back before taking her pistol off the stranger as well as August's Jakobs pistol.

"Keep him covered," Rhys told August and Fiona before yelling up to where Sasha was. "Clear!"

Sasha stood up and walked towards them before she went over to Fiona.

"Fi, you ok?" Sasha asked.

"I'm fine. You two certainly have good timing," Fiona said.

"Lucky for you. August, help me get him in the Technical. Then keep your guns on him at all times," Rhys said, picking the Stranger up by one arm.

August grabbed his other arm and lifted him into the back of the Technical while Sasha and Fiona kept their guns trained on him. Rhys hopped in the back with the Stranger while August stayed on top of the car while the girls drove the car and occupied the turret. Rhys kept his shotgun trained on the Stranger at all times.

"How'd you find this gun?" Rhys asked him.

"Found it," the Stranger said in the same raspy voice. Rhys was not satisfied with that answer.

"Who are you?" he asked. The Stranger looked directly at Rhys' face before speaking.

"You know me," he said simply before looking out at the moving terrain. Rhys kept his eyes trained on the Stranger while August was hanging out on top with his Jakobs pistol pointed at him.

"What are we gonna do with him?" August asked.

"I don't know. We'll figure it out once we get back to the base," Rhys said without taking his eyes off the Stranger. "How'd he get you?"

"Fiona suggested we go out and find some food. Saying she needed some air or something. So we took the Technical and didn't get far before the tire ran flat. Then before we know it, we had a shotgun pointed at us. Dragged me out of the car and pointed the shotgun at my head to stop Fiona from doing anything. Then when I smelled gas from the leak, I got us to stop. Maybe it's a good thing you forgot about that leak," August explained.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Been busy as hell though," Rhys said.

"That's an understatement," Sasha said suddenly.

"Thanks for the help Sasha," Rhys said sarcastically.

"Always Rhysie," Sasha said teasingly, making me Rhys tighten the grip on his shotgun angrily.

"Don't call me that," he said darkly. Fiona climbed out of the turret and looked down at Rhys.

"What the hell's your problem? You sound like Sasha just called you a bitch," she asked, frowning. Rhys shook his head.

"Sorry. Some irritating thing with Jack. Just avoid calling me that if you can help it," he said, shaking his head. Fiona frowned before getting back in the turret seat.

"What was up with that?" Sasha asked her sister.

"Rhysie was some annoying thing Jack called him when he was in his head. It seems to be a trigger word for him," Fiona explained.

"Yeah, I can understand how that would be irritating to hear," Sasha said, her eyes on the road before they darted toward her sister. "You ok? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Nah. He didn't hurt any of us. How'd you even find us?" Fiona asked.

"We just started walking through the desert until we came across something," Sasha said, making her sister look at her in disbelief.

"You just started walking through the desert with no food or water? That was so reckless, I don't even have the words for it," Fiona said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah, yeah. Rhys already yelled at me enough for it," Sasha said. Fiona was kind of torn on this situation. She was glad Rhys had the common sense to decide against it, but he also wanted to yell at him for yelling at her sister. She decided on silence. Sasha sighed.

"I knew it wasn't the best idea, but I had to believe that we would find you, you know?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I know. But it's lucky you did," Fiona said, before looking behind her at Rhys who still had the gun pointed at the guy who kidnapped them. "Rhys' technology seems to be a big help."

"Yeah, it really was. Glad we can be the kidnappers first and not the hostages. What just happened now - that doesn't count," Fiona said, waving a dismissive hand. Sasha smirked at her sister.

"I dunno. It kind of does," she said.

"Oh, shut up," Fiona said, facing away from her sister. Sasha laughed at her sister's denial before they parked the Technical back in the base. Rhys hopped and first and gestured his shotgun down to the ground, gesturing for the Stranger to get out first. He moved slowly and stepped down from the back of the Technical before Rhys lead him toward the training room. The other three were also right next to him and had their guns trained on him at the same time.

They led him to the training room, and robots came down from the ceiling to aid Rhys, their new master. Rhys put his shotgun away and crossed his arms before speaking.

"So... who are you?" Rhys asked.

* * *

A/N: Cliffhanger! Well, not really. Not really if you know who the Stranger is already(Which most of you most likely already do). Until next time.


	6. Chapter 6 - Getting the Crew Together

A/N: I'm finding that I'm getting lazier and lazier about these updates. I need to do better. That was pointless to say, but I felt like I had to get it out there.

* * *

"Who am I?" the Stranger repeated.

"Yes. I'm not going to ask again. I suggest you talk before I get impatient," Rhys said, making his robotic hand sparkle with dangerous looking blue electricity. And this Rhys actually looked threatening, contrary to the old Hyperion Rhys. Especially with his face lit up by the electricity. Fiona would never admit it, but she didn't want to get on Rhys' bad side.

"I know you. Better now than I even have," the Stranger said. Rhys cut off the electricity on his arm and looked at the Stranger curiously. He certainly had his attention.

"I was there... I was there when Gortys was destroyed," the Stranger said. "I saw the betrayal. I saw it... but I could not believe it."

"What do you mean?" Rhys asked, but the Stranger didn't seem to hear him.

"I had asked for only one thing. After giving so much... I had sacrificed everything... for my friends. Only to be betrayed," the Stranger said, before looking straight ahead. "You asked who I am... the answer is simple..." He then began to remove his helmet and Rhys' eyes widened at the sight of the red eye.

"...I am your friend," Loader Bot finished.

"Loader Bot?" Rhys questioned in disbelief.

"Hi," he said simply. The four of them looked at the robot in question in shock. They couldn't believe that Loader Bot had even made it here. But Loader Bot looked at Rhys.

"You have certainly changed," he said.

"More than you know," Rhys said, rubbing the scar on his left arm through the fabric of his sleeve.

"I had to shoot her," Fiona said, her voice full of regret. Loader Bot then turned back to look at Fiona.

"I wanted to believe that too," he said.

"How is this even possible? How are you even standing here right now?" Rhys questioned.

"I went back to Helios. I needed to survive. To find you. To learn the truth," Loader Bot explained, removing himself out of the suit and standing straight up.

"Why'd you have to hide yourself? Why didn't you just tell us?" Sasha asked.

"I was afraid if you knew who I was, you would lie about what happened. It is in your nature to lie," Loader Bot said. Rhys rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"Guess we're kinda of guilty of that charge," he said.

"I am sorry for not trusting you. Please forgive me," Loader Bot said, wrapping Fiona up in a hug.

"Oh, come on. How could you be mad at that face?" Rhys said in a teasing baby voice before it changed back to normal. "That is a face, right?" Sasha elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs and he simply smiled at her charmingly.

"I'm sorry too... for everything," Fiona breathed out with effort.

"No need. You had your reasons," Loader Bot said, before letting her down.

"Now I've got a question," August interjected. "Why in the hell did you hold us hostage with a gun before leading us away? What was that supposed to achieve?" Loader Bot looked at August for a few long seconds before answering.

"I needed to get you all together. I know where Vaughn is," he said, making Rhys turn him around to look at him.

"Where?" Rhys asked on the spot. It killed him not knowing whether his friend was alive or dead.

"In the remains of Helios," Loader Bot said.

"I had a feeling..." Rhys muttered, but Sasha heard him.

"See? Your hunch was right," she said.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't rub it in," Rhys said, waving a dismissive hand before turning back to Loader Bot. "Let's go there. Now."

"Very well. Let's get in the vehicle," Loader Bot said, walking away. Rhys damn near ran to the Technical and hopped in the driver's seat. Once everyone was piled in, Rhys sped off toward the Helios wreckage, using his mechanical hand as a guide toward the base. Loader Bot was in the back with Fiona and Sasha, and he looked toward the driver's seat before looking back at them.

"Rhys is certainly more intimidating than before," he said.

"Hard to believe, huh? Yeah, surprised us the first time we saw him like this," Sasha said.

"What happened to him? I saw him when he was missing various limbs, but I thought he was dead," Loader Bot explained.

"After he got out of Helios, a few bandits got a hold of him and did what bandits do I guess," Fiona said.

"Ouch," Loader Bot said. "And the more intimidating attitude?"

"Atlas training. A lot of the old soldier training simulations still worked, so he learned and became the Rhys you see now. But he's still Rhys," Sasha said.

"He would not be my friend if he was not. I am glad," Loader Bot said. "But hopefully he will actually do some of the saving instead of the other way around."

"I heard that!" Rhys yelled from the front. The two girls laughed at Rhys' indignation at Loader Bot's statement, but his voice was filled with humor all the same.

On the way to the base, Rhys suddenly stopped the car.

"Hey, what's up?" Sasha asked. Rhys said nothing as he hopped out of the Technical. "Rhys!"

"Let's get out and see what he's up to," Fiona said, jumping out of the car. The other three followed Fiona's example and looked at Rhys who had his gun out and fired it by the time they could see him.

Looking in the distance, they saw that Rhys had shot someone in their leg. He was face down in the dirt, so they couldn't see his face. But Rhys seemed to know who he was as he lifted him up with his mechanical arm and threw him on his back.

"Kroger," Fiona said distastefully, recognizing that bad mustache anywhere.

"Well, well, well. The corporate chump," Kroger said, once he saw Rhys. Rhys shot him in his other knee, making him cry out in pain before gritting his teeth and trying to take the pain.

"The name's Rhys skaglick," Rhys said. Kroger looked over to the others walk up to him and he grimaced.

"Oh, great. The rest of you," he said. Fiona crossed her arms before smirking.

"Hey Kroger. Where's your buddy? Oh, wait..." she said, her smirk getting even wider. "I remember."

"Hmm. Bitch," he muttered, making Rhys shoot him in his stomach. He turned over on his side from the pain.

"If I were you, I'd shut the hell up about my friends," he snapped.

"Should've shot that mustache," Sasha said, tilting her head at Kroger.

"Hmm. Probably should've," Rhys said.

"If you are going to shoot him, please get on with it," Loader Bot said. But Rhys spun his revolver in his middle finger before making it disappear.

"No. I think August would enjoy this more. August?" he said, backing up and bowing while gesturing toward Kroger in a mock fashion. "He's all yours." August smiled before drawing his revolver and blasting Kroger in the head.

"Man, that felt good," he said, before facing Rhys. "Thanks for that."

"No problem. Let's go," Rhys said, before noticing that Kroger wasn't alone. "Who's this guy?" There was a bandit wearing a psycho mask with bright blue lenses and a blue hood. The bandit immediately removed his mask and revealed Vaughn. Rhys looked shocked for a moment before he immediately went up to his best friend and started crushing him in a hug.

"I know you're happy to see me and all, but... you seem to be a lot stronger and... kinda can't breathe," Vaughn breathed out. Rhys set his friend down, but his wide, happy grin was still in place. Vaughn then turned to Fiona and Sasha with his arms wide open.

"Come on... Bring it in you two," he said. Fiona and Sasha both held out their fists with a smile.

"That works too," Vaughn said, before fist bumping the both of them. "We've got a lot to catch up on."

"No shit. But let's get to Helios first," Rhys said.

"So you know that's where we've set up shop," Vaughn said before looking past them. "I see you have a car. I need to drive it to where we keep our vehicles."

"You just want an excuse to drive," Rhys said with a knowing look.

"Maybe..." Vaughn trailed before smiling. "Ok, yes." Rhys laughed before putting his arm around Vaughn's shoulder and leading him toward the vehicle. Sasha smiled. It was nice seeing Rhys light up like this again.

The two were talking constantly excitedly during the car trip, and the rest of them were left to talk amongst themselves. Truly, it was a really awesome feeling to have everyone back together again. Everyone felt it. Even August.

Once they had the vehicle parked, they then began heading back into the base. It was a fair walk back up to the base, but Rhys didn't mind.

"You sure do have a bunch of Hyperions on watch. None of them really know how to do anything but file paperwork," Rhys said as they walked down the path.

"Yeah, but they're definitely good as lookouts. Well, when you have so many looking out," Vaughn said.

"Good point," Rhys said before looking at the Hyperions bowing. "Wow. They must really revere you."

"Oh, that's not for me. They're bowing to you," Vaughn said, making Rhys look at him strangely.

"What?" he asked.

"Seriously?" Sasha asked.

"Me? This isn't for you?" Rhys asked.

"You're kidding me," Fiona said with an amused tone.

"I wish I was," Vaughn said. "Look, they even have a shrine for him." Rhys looked over to this so called 'shrine.'

"Um... that's a statue of Jack. Which is really offensive in any case," he said.

"Yes, very observant. It was at one point, but, uh, they went ahead and labeled it 'Rhys,'" Vaughn said. "Someone tried to alter the face to look like you, but... um... most of these guys are basically shitty at everything."

"I am very uncomfortable right now," Rhys said, averting his eyes from the Hyperions.

"That makes two of us," Fiona said.

"Make it three," Sasha said.

"Four," August added.

"Rhys, you don't understand. To them... YOU are the Great Liberator. You see, you crashing Helios shed them of their corporate shackles," Vaughn explained.

"That doesn't make this any less uncomfortable," Rhys said.

"Ah, fair point," Vaughn said, before going silent on the rest of the trip.

They had finally made it to the base and Rhys smiled slightly once he saw Yvette. She wrapped him in a hug as soon as she saw him.

"Glad to see you're not dead," she said.

"So am I. But I hope you didn't make me regret freeing you. Trust me, if you do, you'll regret it," Rhys said.

"Duly noted," Yvette said, releasing Rhys before looking past him. "I see you've brought company." Fiona frowned once she saw the Hyperion woman. She still did not like her all that much, even if Rhys forgave her.

"Your face still hurt?" Fiona asked. Yvette frowned slightly before answering.

"No, I'd say it's recovered fine now, thanks for asking," she said. Rhys looked in between the two.

"Uh, did I miss something?" he asked.

"Yes. I socked your little friend here in the face upon leaving Helios," Fiona told Rhys before looking Yvette dead in the eye. "I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. Let's be clear on that."

"We're clear," Yvette said.

"Good," Fiona said, her expression still locked in a frown. Yvette then ignored Fiona and turned back to Rhys.

"Hungry? We got fruit," she said.

"Drakefruit?" Rhys asked. Yvette nodded, making Rhys smile. He had grown fond of the fruit since his seclusion on the Atlas base.

"Lead the way," he said, gesturing his arm out. The three friends then walked away toward so part of the base. Sasha watched the three walk away with a frown.

"I assume you don't trust her all that much either," Fiona deduced from the expression on her sister's face.

"No. I don't. Not easy to trust someone who set up guards to hold you," Sasha said. "Think it was a mistake for Rhys to forgive her?"

"I'm not sure yet. But I don't think we have to worry about what happens to her if she backstabs Rhys again," Fiona said.

"No. Rhys will know what to do if that time comes," Sasha said, before turning to August. "What's your take on her?"

"Me? I don't trust anyone Hyperion apart from Rhys, his friend, and this bot. I'm definitely keeping my eye on her and the rest of these Hyperions," he explained.

"For now, we have more pressing matters," Loader Bot said. "If you would follow me." Loader Bot walked up some stairs and into a room that had the remains of Gortys lying around on a table. Fiona looked at it with a sad look before turning back to Loader Bot.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked.

"It will require everyone's help," Loader Bot said.

"Oh, man. Are you serious?" Rhys said from downstairs. Fiona looked downstairs to see him conversating with Yvette and Vaughn with a piece of drakefruit in his hand.

"My forehead isn't really that big... is it?" Rhys asked with a hesitant look. Yvette laughed.

"Yes. It is actually," she said.

"You're just jealous cause they aren't drawing pictures of you," Rhys said with a playful smile.

"You're right Rhys. Ya got me," Yvette said, crossing her arms with her traditional smirk.

"I told you, they're sucky," Vaughn said.

"Mind burning it? For the sake of making my forehead look less embarrassing," Rhys said, taking a bite out of his fruit.

"FAR too late for that Rhys," Yvette said. Fiona then yelled down at Rhys.

"Hey! Loader Bot has something to tell us," she said. Rhys looked up at Fiona.

"Can I eat first?" he asked. Sasha then joined the conversation.

"Eat on the run babe. Get up here," she said, making Rhys raise an eyebrow.

"Babe? Never heard that one before. I'll take it," he said, tossing the drakefruit in the air and catching it before taking another bite. He then turned to Vaughn and Yvette.

"You coming?" he said, standing up.

"You two go ahead. I've got some work to do. And Rhys?" Yvette asked.

"Yeah?" he said, turning back around to face her.

"I see you've been busy with the Pandorans," she said smirking. Rhys went slightly red before walking away without a word, Vaughn trailing behind him.

"So you and Sasha are a thing?" he asked.

"Yeah. We are. Have been for a few months. Fiona half wanted to skin me alive for it," Rhys said.

"That's a troublesome thing to deal with," Vaughn said.

"I think she's slowly gotten used to idea. Besides, if I can rip my own cybernetics out and be tortured by bandits less than an hour later, I think I can handle whatever Fiona can dish out," Rhys explained, making Vaughn look at him strangely.

"That part you did not mention. Tortured by bandits? Ripping out your cybernetics? What's that all about?" Vaughn asked once they reach the others.

"Later if you can remind me," Rhys said before addressing Loader Bot. "What's up?" Loader Bot faced the remains of Gortys.

"I brought you all together... to help me assemble Gortys... and summon the Vault of the Traveler," he explained.

"Whoa," Rhys said.

"Yeah. Heavy," Loader Bot said.

"Loader Bot, that's suicide. You saw what happened last time," Fiona said.

"This time it will be it will be different," Loader Bot said.

"How?" Sasha questioned.

"We will all be there to fight it... with some friends. We were unprepared. Weak. That won't be the case this time," Loader Bot explained.

"That's not much of a plan. Not that I'm saying no," Vaughn said.

"Can't we just, you know, assemble her enough to be half a Gortys? Before she gets to Vault summoning size?" Fiona questioned.

"No. The pieces were damaged during the blast. It's all or nothing," Loader Bot said, making Fiona sigh.

"I was afraid of that," she said.

"Killing the Vault monster is the only way to ensure that Gortys can live in peace... the only way to save her," Loader Bot said.

"Whatever help the Children of Helios can provide is at your service," Vaughn said.

"Thank you," Loader Bot said.

"I don't have an army of Hyperion weirdos... but I owe you my life. I'm definitely in," Rhys said with a smile.

"You would've done the same for me," Loader Bot said.

"Count me in," Fiona said.

"Me too," Sasha said.

"Whatever's in the Vault once we do this is also a sweet bonus in addition to getting Gortys back," Rhys said with a smile.

"Some rare Vault weaponry will be nice for your new corporation," Sasha said with a smirk. Vaughn looked at Rhys curiously before digging the rights to Atlas out of his pocket and showing them to Vaughn.

"You _own_ Atlas? Sweet!" he exclaimed.

"All he had to do was pick up a piece of paper," Fiona said, crossing her arms and smirking.

"And rip out every last one of my cybernetics out of my body after crashing an entire space station," Rhys corrected. "Don't say it was painless or easy. Cause it wasn't."

"Now, let's head down and get things prepared," Loader Bot said, heading out of the room. Rhys was the first one out of the room and began ticking off the team.

"So, you... me.. LB... Sasha... Vaughn's on board," Rhys ticked off.

"Hell yeah he is," Vaughn said.

"How many more we need?" Fiona asked.

"Vault Hunter teams are most effective in groups of four. Two teams would optimize our chances of success," Loader Bot said.

"So we'll need to reach out to some people," Rhys said. "Athena and Zer0 would definitely be helpful."

"Athena I know would be useful, but I'm not too sure who Zer0 is," Fiona said.

"Zer0 is the ninja Vault Hunter Rhys was drooling over when he first saved our asses. The masked dude who burst in during the Vault Key disaster," Sasha said, making Rhys look at her with an indignant look.

"I was _not_ drooling," he said in a irritated tone while crossing his arms. But Fiona disregarded their conversation.

"Ok, that's two down. How many more should we need?" she asked.

"One more should do it," Loader Bot said.

"Well, Springs definitely looks like someone who could handle herself. I think I'll bring her," Fiona suggested.

"That's not a bad idea," Rhys said. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah. Definitely," Fiona said.

"Alright. Let's go pick em up then," Rhys said.

"We have a buzzard here. You could use that. It can handle a lot of weight," Vaughn suggested.

"Perfect. Who's gonna drive?" Rhys asked.

"I will. You can focus on getting the selections on board," Loader Bot said.

"Let's go then," Rhys said, walking out of the door.

* * *

Fiona, Rhys, and Loader Bot had all gotten onto a buzzard and started flying off to where they could find their three partners.

They found Zer0 on top of a rock, sniping bandits for what they could assume was target practice. Rhys, who was hanging on one of the rails, held out his hand for Zer0 to grab and pulled him up on the buzzard.

"Hello / Though I am curious / As to why you picked me up," Zer0 said. Rhys turned back to look at him and smiled before turning back around to face the skies.

"Interested in a Vault?" he asked.

"Very interested / Do enlighten me," Zer0 said.

"Later. We've got some more people to tell as well. It's easier if we get them all together and say it then," Rhys explained. Zer0 nodded and they continued the car trip in silence. To be honest, Rhys was hoping he could make an impression on Zer0 during this Vault hunt. He wanted to show everyone just how much he changed from a defenseless Hyperion into a skilled fighter.

They went back to Scooter's garage, and Fiona went inside to go get Springs. She was working under a car and Fiona replaced her tool box with her hat that had a message under it that she was sure Springs would understand. Sure enough, Springs smiled before pushing herself from under the vehicle and standing up to face Fiona.

"What do you need?" Springs asked.

"Your help. There's a Vault we need to take down to ensure Gortys can stay alive. You up for it?" Fiona asked.

"I assume Athena's gonna be there as well. I would expect you couldn't do such a thing without having enough people," Springs said.

"You're right. We're about to go get her. So... you in?" Fiona asked.

"Most definitely," Springs said, following Fiona back to the buzzard.

They ended up tracking Athena to a bandit camp Rhys was most familiar with.

"I got this. Hopeful I run into a familiar face along the way," he said with a dark tone before getting off the buzzard. He walked through the town with his senses on high alert the entire way here. Sure enough, Athena was at one of those grills with the same balding bandit who tried to axe him in the face. This would be a joyous reunion.

Athena had ended up setting fire to one of the kabobs and kept tapping it on the grill to try and put it out. The bandit grabbed Athena's arm when she tried to do that and Rhys was walking to the side of him before turning him around to face him and lifting him up by the front of his shirt with his mechanical hand.

"You know, I was hoping you were dead by now," he said.

"Hmm. Likewise Hyperion," the bandit said. Rhys frowned deeply summoning his laser sword in his left hand.

"How about we change that?" he questioned.

"If you actually do it, you'll be doing me a huge favor. This job blows," Athena said in a bored tone. Rhys slashed his sword horizontal before dropping the half of his corpse he still hand in his hand. He then turned to face Athena.

"We've got a Vault to tackle. You interested in taking in? Your girlfriend's gonna be along for the ride too," Rhys told Athena.

"It's definitely better than this dump," she said, following him back to the buzzard. That was everyone. Now it was time for a Vault.

 _"Hopefully we don't die,"_ Rhys thought.

* * *

A/N: Well, we'll be doing the Vault of the Traveler in the next one. Hope you enjoy how I'm going to change that up slightly.


	7. Chapter 7 - True Vault Hunters

A/N: Laziness plus more stories to work on equals less updates.

* * *

Rhys shook his legs out a bit to try and wake them up from sitting on that buzzard. Then he turned to Fiona and Loader Bot.

"Now or never I guess," he told them. Fiona nodded.

"That seems accurate," Loader Bot said. Everyone followed Rhys as he walked back inside the Atlas base to get to the briefing room. But Fiona walked next to Rhys the entire time so she could hold a conversation with him.

"You think I made the right choice? Bringing who I chose?" she asked him.

"Little late for that, don't you think?" Rhys said with a playful smirk. She shoved him on his arm, but he barely moved.

"Be serious Rhys," she said in a serious tone. The smirk was wiped from his face and he faced Fiona with a serious expression.

"Zer0 and Athena are two people that are the reason for us still being alive. Having them on their side is more than helpful. As for Janey, well, she is dating Athena. I don't think she would be in this lifestyle if she couldn't handle herself. I think your choices were solid," Rhys explained with honesty. Fiona smiled.

"Thanks," Fiona said.

"No problem. Now, I've been thinking about this for a bit, and I think August should go with you onto the Traveler," Rhys said. Fiona raised an eyebrow.

"Enlighten me," she said.

"None of have no idea what's gonna be in that giant monster, and August is a decent gun hand to have. I honestly think he should go with you," Rhys said.

"We can handle ourselves," Fiona said.

"And you think I don't know that? But we haven't done anything like this, and I don't want to take any chances with either of you. Just take him with you," Rhys said.

"Ugh. I'll think about it. But I don't know how Sasha will react about this," Fiona said.

"She'll be against it. But she'll on board if you tell her it's alright. Why do you think I came to you first?" Rhys said with a smirk. Fiona had to admire the Hyperion's nerve. But she had to hate it too.

"You slick bastard," Fiona said with a smirk. Rhys had a cocky, self-centered smirk on his face that proves he was once a Hyperion. It was also a smirk that Fiona hated once before. Now, she didn't mind as much.

"So you'll take him?" Rhys asked.

"No," Fiona said quickly.

"I had a feeling that was going to be your answer. Fine. It's your choice," Rhys said.

"It's mostly cause I don't want him to have a stake in the loot," Fiona said, making Rhys bark out a laugh.

"And you used to say I'm greedy," he said, still laughing. Fiona eventually joined in with his laughter.

From the back, Athena was listening to Fiona and Rhys talking and it sounded strangely closer. More friendly. Even intimate if you looked at it a certain way.

"Those two a thing now?" Athena asked Loader Bot.

"No. He and Sasha. I would assume Fiona is trying her best to get along with him for the sake of her sister," Loader Bot responded. Athena frowned slightly.

She remembered what Rhys looked like the first time she met him. She remembered his eye used to be a bright blue blue and his arm a Hyperion yellow. But now his eye was a dark yellow and his arm a platinum silver. It was a darker, more sinister look for the man. One that unnerved her slightly.

"Something on your mind?" Janey asked her girlfriend. She turned to face Janey before pointing at Rhys.

"The Hyperion... he seems... different. I don't like it," Athena said with a frown. Janey looked at where Athena was pointing.

"Replaced tech, more confident walk, less awkward tone? I'd say he definitely changed. I'd say for himself really. It's nothing sweetie," Janey assured her. Athena nodded somewhat automatically, but she was not very reassured. She would keep her eye on Rhys.

She trusted the Hyperion even less than she did before. And the way he dealt with that bandit next to her back in that desert? He sliced him in half without even blinking after. That definitely showed that he learned how to fight and kill without any remorse. That she definitely didn't like.

"I wouldn't say it's nothing. I didn't tell you about what happened when he came to get me," Athena said.

"Alright, enlighten me. What happened?" Janey said.

"We're here. You can stop talking about me now," Rhys said without even facing them. Athena looked up at the Hyperion and her frown got even deeper, but she didn't comment.

Rhys lead them where the planning was taking place and they were all taking positions in front of monitors.

"I heard you were looking for the Gortys core yourself," Vaughn said to Zer0.

"Well... that was before / I've abandoned that mission / My queue was too full," Zer0 said.

"I've been there. They really start to pile up," Athena said.

"But those days are behind you now," Janey said.

"Right," Athena said hesitantly. Like she didn't want it to be true.

"Thank you for coming," Loader Bot told them.

"Sure... I'm mostly here for the loot," Athena said.

"Loot is always a good motivator. Doesn't take much convincing with that promise," Rhys said with his arms crossed and his expression relaxed. Athena didn't even acknowledge Rhys as she continued.

"Weddings are expensive," Athena said.

"So I've heard," Loader Bot said. Sasha gave Rhys a subtle look and he raised an eyebrow.

"I told you we can keep it modest," Janey said.

"The napkin holders you picked up are more than modest," Athena said.

"Well, those I have to have," Janey said.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have a Vault to open," Rhys said, his tone bordering on impatience. Athena gave Rhys a somewhat pissed look, and instead of looking away like Rhys would tend to do, he eyed her down with a look just as severe. The Hyperion had a lot more nerve than before, and it surprised her more than it irritated her.

"This is all really exciting. I don't usually get invited to missions like this," Janey interjected.

"Why don't you join your girlfriend when she goes on her jobs? Seems like you would both have more fun that way," Fiona suggested. Janey turned her head slightly toward Athena before looking back at Fiona.

"I'll think about that," she said. Athena looked back at Rhys again. Athena smiled. She was glad that Fiona had her back. Even through the worst of situations. That's exactly why she thought Fiona would make it in this business.

"Alright, in order to access the mysterious treasures of the Vault..." Vaughn started.

"Ahem," Loader Bot interrupted. Rhys, Sasha, and Fiona knew that the Vault wasn't Loader Bot's main priority.

"AND ensure the safety of Gortys, we gotta destroy the monster that protects it," Vaughn finished.

"This is the Traveler," Loader Bot said, showing the image on the monitor in front of them.

"It's quite impressive / That's the largest Vault monster / I have ever seen," Zer0 said.

"And you've seen how many, exactly? They aren't exactly common," Rhys questioned.

"I've only seen one / But regardless of that / My point is proven," Zer0 said.

"Oh, yeah. It's big. It's nasty. It's gotta go," Vaughn said. "To make matters more fun and complicated, it teleports. Yay. Hence the whole Traveler thing."

"So what's everyone's job?" Fiona questioned.

"Good question. The B team... that's you guys... you're saddled with the unenviable task of drawing the monster over to this area," Vaughn said, gesturing back to the monitor. "When the Traveler teleports, there's a swirl of energy at the point where it's going to jump to. You get the monster towards the vicinity of this ledge. It tries to jump into range. The caravan flies into the energy swirly thing before it jumps."

"The caravan?" Fiona questioned.

"Yeah, that's... that's what I said. It flies now remember? You just gotta time it so you're inside the energy thing when the monster shows up," Vaughn clarified. "What little information we were able to gather seems to point to a gland, tucked inside it's giant tummy there as the source for its teleportation abilities. Once your in, you wire up the gland... weird to keep calling it that... with explosives. Trigger the remote detonator and get the heck out of there."

"Lemme see the detonator," Rhys asked, holding his hand out.

"Relax, Rhys. It's perfectly fine," Vaughn said.

"I didn't say it wasn't. Lemme see the detonator Vaughn," Rhys asked with more insistence. Vaughn walked out of the room for a minute before Sasha questioned him.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Making a check," Rhys said, his expression dead serious.

Vaughn eventually came back with the detonator and removed the back of it before looking around at the parts. His frown became even deeper.

"Is there a problem?" Vaughn asked.

"You're holding everything up," Athena said.

"Give me a minute," Rhys said as he digistructed a chip from his ECHO and started removing wires before inserting the chip inside the detonator and replaced the back before handing it back to Vaughn. "There you go."

"Uh, was there any point to that?" Fiona asked.

"If you count on the detonator not working once you two were out of range of the blast, then yes. There was very much a point," Rhys said with his arms crossed again. Fiona and Sasha's eyes widened.

"Wait, are you saying that the detonator wouldn't have worked once we reached a certain range?" Fiona questioned.

"That is correct. It's likely you'd run into too much interference inside the Vault monster, so you need a more powerful frequency. That is why I checked. Now it's triggered by my ECHO arm. Give me the thumbs up when you're out of range, and I'll detonate it. There are just some things you have to double check," Rhys said, making Sasha kiss him on the cheek.

"You're the best," she told him. He smirked.

"I know," he said, making just about everyone else roll their eyes.

"Ugh, can we move on?" Athena questioned. Rhys gave a mock bow.

"Be my guest," he said.

"Hmm. Smartass," she said. He smirked before addressing Vaughn with a serious look.

"Where do I fit into all of this?" Rhys questioned.

"You sir, are our motivational speaker!" Vaughn exclaimed, making Rhys give Vaughn a strange look.

"Enlighten me," he said.

"After the teleportation gland is offline, we need Gortys to wrestle the Traveler into place for the moonbeam. That's gonna require some convincing. And that's what you and Loader Bot are in charge of," Vaughn clarified.

"Hmm. Makes sense," Rhys said, but Fiona knew what was going on in his mind.

"You can have your opportunity to shoot someone another time, ok?" she told him.

"I know this. Doesn't mean I have to like it," Rhys said with a frown.

"Any more questions?" Vaughn questioned. Everyone shook their heads. No more was to be said as they walked out of the room to open the Vault.

* * *

They all parked around the very center of this canyon. Loader Bot set the remains of Gortys down with Rhys and Fiona right next to him.

"Alright guys. Moonbeam is fully charged. We're ready here when you are," Vaughn said. Rhys and Fiona both looked at Gortys before looking at each other with a sad look.

"She is ready. The only missing pieces are you two," Loader Bot said.

"I'm sorry... about Gortys," Rhys said in a regretful tone.

"Yeah," Fiona said.

"Unneeded. I now know it is not your fault," Loader Bot said. "I could not revive her myself. I require your help. You two are still imprinted on her core. It must be made whole again." He then handed them the two pieces of the Gortys core.

Fiona and Rhys walked a little ahead of everyone before putting the cores together in midair. The core had begun to float in the air before Rhys grabbed it and put it in Gortys.

"That's all it takes this time?" Rhys asked.

"I've made some modifications. You will want to stand back. This may not be pleasant," Loader Bot suggested. Then they waited. But nothing happened.

"Um..." Loader Bot trailed. "It is not working."

"Uh, did I put it in backwards?" Rhys questioned.

"Backwards?" Fiona questioned.

"I dunno, like batteries? I-" Before he could speak any more, Gortys floated in the air before a number of seconds before her giant robot form was revealed once again.

"Whoa! Hey guys! What are you doing here?" she questioned. But the beacon on her back flashed bright again before the Vault was opened and the Traveler climbing out of it.

"Oh no. Not again," Gortys said with fear.

"Get to your positions! We don't have a lot of time!" Fiona told everyone before taking off running. Everyone except Rhys got into a vehicle and sped off to get their particular objectives done.

"Rhys?" Gortys questioned. "What's going on? As glad as I am to see all of you... you know we're going to die, right?"

"It's gonna be alright Gortys," Rhys assured her.

"I don't know about that," Gortys said.

"Okay, so here's the plan: you're gonna force the Traveler into position so Fiona and Sasha can get inside it and destroy its teleportation gland. Then Vaughn will use Helios' beam to destroy it! Got it?" Rhys explained in a rush.

"Nope!" Gortys said almost instantly, wiping the smile off of Rhys' face just as quickly.

"Oh, really? Which part?" he asked.

"The one where we don't get our butts kicked like last time. I thought I was ready back then, but I didn't stand a chance!" Gortys exclaimed.

"Well yeah, but... that's the plan," Rhys said.

While Rhys held a conversation with Gortys, Sasha was stressing about the situation.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Sasha said in an anxious tone. "Do we go this? We got this, right?"

"Hell, I feel sorry for the monster," Fiona said in a cocky tone.

"All right, let's do this!" Sasha said with more confidence. Janey and Athena then pulled up next to the two sisters.

"Fiona, get to the top of the cliff. After we get the Traveler into position, you'll only have a few seconds to jump into it while it teleports," Athena reminded her.

"Just handle your part. We got this," Sasha assured her.

They drove up a hill so they could get into position for the jump with the caravan.

"I checked it out last night. She's solid for one last ride. The only good thing Felix ever gave us," Sasha said.

"I dunno. I'm pretty happy with my gun," Fiona said.

"You still got that gift Felix gave me?" Sasha questioned.

"Of course I-" Fiona was cut off by a loud charging sound. She looked back to see that the Helios beam had been fired toward the Traveler, but he teleported out of the way and dodged it.

"That... wasn't the plan," Sasha said.

"No," Fiona clarified.

"Okay, so... I might've screwed up. Please don't be mad at me," Vaughn said.

"Ugh... Vaughn..." Sasha said, face palming.

 _"Vaughn,"_ Fiona said seriously.

"I know! I know! I just... saw him walk in front of the beam. I figured I could just end this all right now," Vaughn explained.

"Tell me we got another shot," Fiona said.

"Yes!... eventually," Vaughn said.

"Wh-What?!" Fiona exclaimed. "You were supposed to wait until we took out the teleportation gland!"

"Don't worry. I'll get it charged back up. We're fine. This is not a problem," Vaughn assured her.

"Guys, I've got a problem. Gortys does not want anything to do with this," Rhys said.

"What?!" Fiona exclaimed.

"Awesome! Yell at Rhys! I gotta go!" Vaughn exclaimed.

"She's scared okay! I can't get her into position," Rhys said.

"You're the expert at this stuff! Convince her!" Fiona exclaimed. Rhys rubbed his face out of the stress of the situation before addressing Gortys again.

"Look Gortys - you can do this! Okay? It'll be different this time. We're all here together!" Rhys exclaimed.

"Hey, Gortys! This isn't working! We need a new plan!" Athena said after nearly being squashed by the Traveler.

"Hold on! Just give me a minute!" Rhys told Athena before going back to Gortys.

"But if we fight, we'll lose! Oh, I wish you had all just give up on the Vault," Gortys said. "That's why I had Fiona destroy me. I didn't want to put you in danger!"

"Gortys, we're going to fight this thing together! All of us!" Rhys exclaimed.

"But last time..."

"Forget about last time! Your friends are all here! We can do this! Together!" Rhys told her.

"Well... if you say so. But you've got to drive!" Gortys said.

"Drive?" Rhys questioned as she lowered her hand down to grab him. "What're you - no, no, no-"

Rhys had his hands up, but he looked up to see that he was inside Gortys.

"I don't know how to fight, so you should be in it," she said.

"And a remote control is going to help me? It's not really gonna help me do what I know how to do! I learned martial arts. These controls are likely gonna help me do nothing close to that!" Rhys exclaimed.

"Like this?" Gortys questioned before she stood on her feet and put her legs on top of her shoulders in a grab that Rhys was familiar with. He smiled.

"Oh, yeah. That'll definitely work," Rhys said, starting to fiddle with the controls. The stick was to control the movement. And the buttons were... well, anything he wanted them to do. Which he liked.

"Hey asshole!" Rhys yelled, but the Traveler wasn't paying attention. "Gortys, can you get its attention?"

"Hey, you big freaky... glowy... Big handed... handy... thingy monster," Gortys said awkwardly. "How was that?"

"Ok, we definitely need to work on you trash talk. But you got it's attention, so mission accomplished," Rhys said before the monster started chuckling. Rhys smirked. "Oh, we'll give him something to laugh about."

"He's already laughing," Gortys said.

"Not what I meant, but lets do this," Rhys said, running in front of the monster having Gortys raise her fists. The monster then teleported in an attempt to get a punch off on Gortys, but Rhys raised Gortys' left leg to deflect the attack before he turned and used his other leg to kick the Traveler down to the ground.

"Whatever it is you're doing, keep it up!" Vaughn said. Rhys quickly got back to his feet and attempted to grab the Traveler, but it teleported right behind Rhys and picked Gortys up.

Rhys spun while in the monster's grip like he was a bottle cap and got out of its grip before grabbing its head and flipping it over on its back.

"Who's laughing now, you son of a bitch?" Rhys questioned with a smile. Rhys attempted to kick the monster while he was on the ground, but it teleported behind Rhys again. But Rhys had expected this.

Using both of Gortys' legs, he quickly turned around and dropkicked the monster directly in its chest. Rhys noticed that the monster was close to the cliff, so he charged directly into it and held it in place so that it would be tempted to teleport again.

"NOW!" Rhys yelled at Fiona to go while he kept the monster in place for the attack. The monster kept punching Gortys' face in an attempt for Rhys to loosen his grip, but was unsuccessful.

Fiona and Sasha sped off the cliff as soon as the monster teleported in the position that Rhys had predicted he would teleport.

"This is just getting to easy," Rhys said with a confident smirk.

"Hey, in case you haven't noticed, we're still down here! So we would appreciate if don't end up crushing us!" Athena exclaimed.

"You're welcome for getting this robot of your back!" Rhys bit back at her impatiently.

"I'm gonna cut your vocal chords out if you don't shut up," Athena threatened.

"Try it. I dare you. I'll stick my stun baton so far up your ass, it'll come out through your fucking ear," Rhys growled back at her angrily. "You want to deal with the giant Vault monster, be my guess. But don't give me shit about how I try to deal with it."

"What the fuck did you just say to me?!" Athena growled.

"Guys! You're not helping the situation by who can do more disturbing things to the other! We have an objective. Let's get it done!" Vaughn exclaimed, trying to keep the peace between the other. Rhys' anger was on boiling point, and Athena's was far from behind.

"Come on you big ugly motherfucker!" Rhys growled before picking up the Traveler and throwing it into the rock. Rhys cocked his fist back with his right hand and kept repeatedly punching the Vault monster in the face without letting up or any type of mercy.

It ended up teleporting to the side of him, only to be met with Gortys' fist in its face again. He then kneed it the stomach before tripping it up and making it fall on the ground. Rhys kept stomping on its face over and over again until it was forced to teleport away again. But Rhys just kept coming like a relentless killer, his anger at Athena fueling the way he fought.

"Wow, Rhys. You are not letting up," Yvette said over the communicator, but Rhys did not respond. His goal was only focused on beating the absolute shit out of this monster.

Right now, the Traveler was on the defensive, which, judging by its cocky attitude earlier, was not expecting such a thing.

Rhys kept advancing on this monster, but it kept teleporting out of Rhys' range. He obviously did not want more punishment coming from Rhys, who was able to read its teleports pretty well.

"Stand... still... you fucker!" Rhys growled as he kept moving the controller around furiously, trying to beat the shit out of the Vault monster more.

Then at one point, the monster attempted to get a one up Rhys by putting all of its weight on Rhys, but he knew how to counter such a thing.

Rhys quickly ducked down and tripped up the monster before grabbing the monster and throwing him into the rock formation. The monster groaned, as if it was sighing that it was pointless trying to fight Rhys. So it stuck to staying away from Rhys by teleporting.

"Fiona, this thing is pissing me off! It keeps teleporting everywhere! How much longer till you pop that teleportation gland?!" Rhys yelled.

"Calm down, Company Man! The charges are on the gland. We just got to get out of here," Fiona said.

"Glad to hear it. I'm tired of this thing teleporting away from me," Rhys said. "Tell me when you're out of range so I can detonate the charges!"

"Gotcha!" Fiona yelled. It didn't take long for them to get out of range, and when Fiona gave the okay, Rhys pulled up the control panel on his mechanical arm and activated the detonate feature.

There was a loud explosion powerful enough to travel for miles. Fiona and Sasha got out of the caravan and ended up landing on top of a cliff. Rhys got a dark smirk on his face.

"No more teleporting for you asshole," he said before charging toward the Vault monster again. The monster roared before Rhys grabbed the monster with his feet and threw it closer to the moonbeam. Rhys stood it up before moving out of the moonbeam's range.

"Hit the button! Hit the button!" Vaughn exclaimed. Yvette hit the fire button and the moonbeam made a hole in the monster's armor. Then, the beacon on his back that summoned the Vault turned into a sword. He charged toward the monster with an expression that meant death.

"Time to die," Rhys growled before slicing the monster over and over and over again. He then put the sword directly in the middle of the monster's chest before raising it up. It took a few seconds, but Traveler eventually fell apart. It definitely wasn't doing anymore traveling any time soon.

Gortys then got Rhys out of her body and he flexed his shoulders as everyone approached him.

"You alright?" Sasha asked him.

"I should be asking you that. Did any weird Vault monsters probe you or anything?" Rhys asked. Sasha rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine you big dope. Glad you had fun," she said.

"I would've had even more fun if that thing would've stood and fought me more. Would've made things more interesting," Rhys said, with his arms crossed.

"By the sound of things, you'd have almost anyone running for the hills from the way you were attacking," Fiona said with a smirk. Rhys gave her a genuine smile before turning toward the rest of the group.

"Thanks for the help. All of you," Rhys said gratefully.

"No problem," Janey said.

"I must say / I find myself impressed / By your fighting skill Rhys," Zer0 said. It took all the self control Rhys had not to jump up and down for joy, but he did give him a wide smile.

"Thanks. Still wouldn't want to fight you though," he said with a smile.

"Alright, enough of the warrior's admiration shit. How about we check out this Vault?" Sasha suggested. Rhys smiled.

"Gladly," he said.

"I quite enjoyed this / Perhaps we'll do it again," Zer0 said suddenly.

"On the narrow chance we find another Vault, but I'll be happy to take you up on that offer," Rhys said evenly. Athena then approached Fiona was a smile.

"You'll do fine out there," Athena said.

"Ya'll are coming to the wedding, right?" Janey asked.

"What happened to a little thing?" Athena hissed.

"Come on. Had Fiona not told me how you felt, we might not be getting married," Janey reminded her. Athena looked at the ground with a regretful look.

"I guess that's true," she said.

"Wouldn't miss it," Fiona said. But Rhys whispered to Sasha.

"Are you planning on being one of those women who rushes for the bouquet when the bride throws it?" he said with a smirk.

"Nah. I think Fiona needs the luck more than we do. Plus I don't think I'm ready to be tied down to your ass yet," Sasha said teasingly.

"I'm wounded Sasha," Rhys said with a mock hurt expression. Sasha had a playful smile on her face before wrapping her hands around Rhys' neck.

"How about this. We'll have our alone time together after we get back to the base. Maybe that'll take your mind off your wounds. How does that sound to you?" she said. He smiled and put his hands and her hips, slowly lowering down to her ass.

"That sounds... delightful," Rhys said with a sensual tone.

"Can you two keep your hands off each other for two seconds?!" Fiona exclaimed at the two.

"We did long enough to get the job done, didn't we?" Rhys reminded her.

"Let em go. There's more loot to go around for us then," Athena said.

Sasha instantly ran toward the loot pile.

"Dibs on the Desolator!" she yelled. Rhys shook his head, but smiled all the same.

"I got dibs on any shields cause I get shot a lot!" Vaughn exclaimed. Fiona stood next to Rhys as he looked at the group and observed them as they scrambled for the loot. Then Gortys approached the two.

"I just wanna say thanks for bringing me back and killing that scary thing and taking me on the adventure we went on a while ago and thanks for being cool about stuff like letting me drive caravan that time when you weren't looking and thanks for bringing everyone together and thanks for being my friend..." Gortys said in a rant. "You're the only ones I have and I appreciate you. And I hope we're friends for a really long time."

"That's what friends do... they help each other... it's all part of the deal," Fiona said with a smile.

"Well, then that's a pretty good deal," Gortys mentioned.

"I think most of the credit goes to Loader Bot though," Rhys said. Fiona raised an eyebrow at him. He had just said the exact same thing she was thinking. Honestly, it was getting a little weird.

"Rhys is right. None of us would be here if it weren't for him. He's the one who brought us together to save you," Fiona told Gortys.

"Oh, I see," Gortys said.

"So, as much as we appreciate your thanks, he probably deserves it even more," Fiona said.

Gortys then rolled over to Loader Bot and called out to him before hugging his leg.

"Hi," Loader Bot said.

"Aw, they are so cute together," Fiona cooed. Rhys smiled.

"I suppose they are," he said before turning back toward the group and laughing. "Look at em... so silly. Running like that... little rascals."

"No loot for you, Mr. Atlas?" Fiona asked, a playful smirk on her face. Rhys returned the smirk with one of his own.

"No thanks. I think I'd prefer to build this company's weapons on my own," he said, his arms crossed. "But there is something I want to do."

"What?" Fiona asked. Rhys smiled before he took off running toward the Vault gate. Fiona looked at him strangely before quickly following.

"We're going in together dammit! Like a family! Or no one goes in!" Fiona exclaimed. Rhys laughed playfully.

"You gotta beat me first!" he said. "My spindely legs were made for sprinting!" Rhys ended up reaching the gate first, but was breathing heavily. Fiona had her hands on her knees and was panting just as heavy as Rhys was.

"You only won... cause you had a head start," Fiona breathed out. Rhys still had enough energy to smirk at her.

"Keep... telling yourself that," he said. "Well, no turning back now. I guess we should just go ahead and-"

"Wait a second," Fiona said before raising an eyebrow at Rhys. "Just... what plans do you have with my sister?"

"You want to do this here?" Rhys questioned.

"Yes here. And I want your honest answer Rhys," Fiona said, her tone firm.

"Honestly, I want to make her happy. I want her to be mine and vice versa. I may not express that, but that's how I truly feel," Rhys answered in an honest tone. Fiona smiled.

"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard. You're definitely a better choice for her than August. Just make sure not hurt her or I'll kill you," Fiona said pleasantly.

"Obviously," Rhys said before smiling at Fiona. "You know, I can't believe we've made it this far."

"Opening this Vault? No one would believe it really," Fiona said.

"No not that. I mean all of us. As a group. It's like it was yesterday you were trying to push me out of your moving caravan," Rhys said with a smile. Fiona turned slightly red and rubbed the back of her neck. But before Fiona could even say anything, Rhys beat her to it.

"Ah, don't beat yourself up over it. You didn't trust us. And we certainly wouldn't take any chances with a Pandoran if the roles were reversed," he assured her.

"Perhaps we acted too much like dicks when we first met," Fiona said.

"It's the human's nature to act like a dick at one point. You aren't an exception. No hard feelings Fi. None at all," he said with a good natured smile.

"You're a lot more charming than you make out to be. I'm impressed," Fiona said with a wide smile. "I wish you both nothing but the best."

"Thanks. Shall we go in?" Rhys asked, gesturing toward the Vault door. She grabbed his hand and raised it in front of their faces.

"Together. Or not at all," she told him.

"Alright, alright. If you insist," he said as they both walked in the Vault door together.

The sight they laid their eyes on was...

"Wow. This place is..."

"Beautiful," Fiona finished for Rhys. "All of that work to find a Vault... and here we are."

"It was well earned," Rhys said.

"Yes. It was," Fiona said as they walked on the walkway. "I never dreamed I'd ever see the inside of one of these things."

"So, what's next for the great Fiona? You gonna keep the Vault Hunter thing going, or..." Rhys asked.

"I dunno. To be honest, you're better at me than this stuff. Well, _now_ you are," Fiona said.

"Cause I wanted to survive, which I've more than accomplished. I'm living now. Plus, once a company man, always a company man," Rhys said.

"I suppose so. This Vault Hunting thing is pretty dangerous..." Fiona trailed.

"Well, for once, how about you have control over where the danger is? And get paid for it?" Rhys questioned.

"You're certainly quite the diplomat. But I want a little of that Atlas training before I get too involved in this line of business," Fiona said.

"Anything for you Hat Lady," Rhys said with a smirk.

"Whatever you say Company Man," Fiona said with the same smirk.

They climbed on top of the center platform where the glowing box was.

"So this is it. Would... you like to do the honors?" Rhys questioned.

"It's the last one... it's only right that we both open it... it's the best part," Fiona said.

"Kinda hoping you would say that," Rhys said, making Fiona and laugh and shake her head.

"You're still a goof, aren't you?" she asked.

"That will never change. I can assure you," Rhys said.

"Well good. Cause that's the part I like the most about you. You acting just as cold as violent as Athena can be is quite... unsettling to think about at times," Fiona said.

"Just hope that side of me doesn't have to be revealed anymore. Hopefully I can just live a relaxed lifestyle as the leader of Atlas, but we all know that's too good to be true," Rhys said.

"Yeah, probably is. But hey. Here's to hoping," Fiona said, putting one hand on one side of the box. Rhys put his hand on the other side of the box before they both pushed. The box had begun to fall apart, then at the flash of a bright Eridium colored light, they were gone.

* * *

A/N: Now, this might be the end depending on you all. I might squeeze out more chapters on this story if you want me to. Granted, I can't guarantee they'll be the most interesting, but I can come up with some ideas to further the plot if you want me too.


	8. Chapter 8 - Camping on Juno

Rhys felt his face being pressed down in a cold so intense, he felt like the right side of his face was about to turn into an ice cube and fall off his face.

He slowly got to his feet and started shivering from the cold winds that were relentlessly slapping his face. But then his focus on the cold suddenly turned into worry for Fiona.

"Fiona! Fiona!" Rhys yelled out to the air, holding his arms as if it was helping him from the cold. But he got no reply. He didn't really expect one, but he had to try and see if she was out there somewhere. A crippling feeling of worry started to take hold in his mind. He wasn't sure where Fiona ended up. Possibly wandering through the cold or not even on this planet.

Rhys brought up a map on his mechanical hand to try and find a map as to where he was. The map referenced to Juno, the frozen wasteland with little life. Hey, at least skags were on the list of things that hardly survived on this planet. That was a plus. The minus was that he had to move his map cursor a long way to find any type of civilization. Which meant that one hope for survival was gone.

 _"Nearest civilization is miles away from me in a snowstorm while I don't have a car. Great. That's just fucking great,"_ Rhys thought frustratingly beginning to walk. He prayed that there was at least some type of cave or something he could take refuge in.

He then began to walk while keeping his eyes out for any type of shelter to wait out this storm while thinking to himself frustratingly.

 _"Just when things were finally going good... Should've known it wouldn't last long. I hope Fiona's having a much better time than I am. I just wanna find somewhere to take shelter before I go looking for her,"_ Rhys thought to himself.

After about a good ten minutes of wandering, during which Rhys' ears had ice hanging off of them, he managed to get sights on a cave that looked like a godsend in this weather. He quickly ran towards it, keeping his hand close to his body. His arm could naturally keep itself warm, which was all he had to keep him remotely warm. Rhys was so very glad he got his Hyperion arm cut off so he could replace it. The new one was a far better adjustment.

When he got inside the cave, he noticed that there was a fire crackling around a corner of the walls. Not wanting to take any chances, Rhys drew a fire SMG in case it was an ice based foe and held it aloft while he walked toward the corner. The moment he neared the corner, he quickly wheeled around it, ready to shoot anything ready to that was a threat. But all he saw was a familiar face.

"Nice to see you too Atlas," Fiona said, waving at Rhys. He smiled.

"Thank God you're alright. I was hoping you got out of the storm," he said, sitting down near the fire.

"I could say the same about you. Anyway, where are we? I suppose we aren't on Pandora anymore," Fiona said.

"Juno," Rhys said.

"Juno? The frozen wasteland? That's a long way from Pandora," Fiona said.

"Very. But I saw some civilization a few miles away from us. We'll head there after the storm blows over," Rhys said before asking noticing something different. "Where's your hat?" Fiona pointed to the fire, and there lied the charred remains of her hat.

"That's the only thing that I had that would burn that I didn't need. Man, this is the second time I've had to destroy my hat for survival," Fiona said, pouting.

"Just the life you live. As you can see, my luck isn't any better. Why'd that box teleport us to a frozen wasteland?" Rhys asked.

"I'm thinking the box was randomly generated. It would just take us to any location that was possible. If I knew what it was, I would've thought of a destination. Like back to the base to avoid the long walk back," Fiona said. Rhys snorted.

"You and me both. Anyway, nothing to do but wait it out," he said, blasting the fire with the laser on his robotic hand to make the fire bigger.

"That's definitely useful," Fiona said. "You know, you're getting even better."

"What do you mean by that?" Rhys asked, leaning back on a rock with his elbows and relaxing.

"This whole survival thing. I mean, we teleported to a completely different planet, and you're just like, 'Sure, whatever.' How?" Fiona asked.

"Because I realized something. I should've been dead almost the moment I stepped on this planet. After that whole experience with the bandits. Then life threatening situations started coming one after another with me somehow surviving when most people would be dead. That kind of ruined my ability to be surprised anymore. Cause there's a difference between being surprised and caught off guard," Rhys explained.

"I suppose I could see the logic in that. Even though at the same time it doesn't really make sense," Fiona said. They went quiet for a moment and Fiona started surveying Rhys over her intertwined fingers. Rhys raised an eyebrow at her staring.

"What are you eying me for?" he asked.

"I honestly have no idea. Maybe you're just better looking at than the rocks and the charred remains of my hat," Fiona said dryly.

"Well, it's nice to know I look better than rocks and burned fashion," Rhys said smirking. Fiona smirked back when he had a sudden thought. Was that a subtle way of calling him attractive? Rhys shook his head. Maybe his ego _did_ need to be turned down a bit.

"Thanks," he said idly.

"No problem. Now, this is a question I've had a while. How'd you get your arm? Well, the Hyperion one," Fiona asked. Rhys unconsciously grabbed his robotic arm with his real one while looking down at the ground with a faraway look. But this one looked slightly horrified. That was the last thing Fiona expected.

"Rhys?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sorry. It was just a bit of a shock, that's all. No one's really asked about my arm before except Vaughn. I really don't like how the story goes," Rhys said, rubbing his robotic arm tenderly. Like it was real. Fiona's eyes widened. The robotic arm wasn't there because of some accident or cause he wanted it gone. It was forcibly taken from him.

"Those Hyperion _bastards,"_ she thought angrily to herself. Her anger must have shown on her face, cause Rhys spoke up.

"It was a long time ago. I've gotten used to it already. Even then, the robotic one has been crazy useful," Rhys said, but Fiona wasn't having any of it.

"I don't want you to placate me. They took your arm. Without your permission," Fiona growled through gritted teeth, making Rhys look back down at his hand, which he still was cradling in his normal hand. "What happened, Rhys? If you're so used to it."

Rhys continued to look at his robotic hand before he closed his eyes tightly. He hadn't thought about the last time he could _feel_ with his right hand. The last time he didn't need a prosthetic that almost felt like nothing was there. When he could feel. Experience the sensations of the world, not simply interact with them. He forgot how empty it felt. And he could feel that emptiness now.

"See? You're not used to it. Not completely," Fiona said.

"Stop pushing it," Rhys growled, his voice low. Not dangerous, but Fiona knew he wanted nothing more than the conversation to end. She nodded and he went quiet and solemn-faced. Fiona knew she had hit a sore spot. More so than she could've initially thought.

"I'm gonna get some sleep," Fiona said.

"Go ahead. I'll be watching out," Rhys said, his legs crossed and he started playing with the chamber on one of his revolvers. Fiona laid down next to the fire and closed her eyes to try and find some sleep.

* * *

 _"Please! Stop it! Mommy!"_

Fiona shot up so quickly out of her sleep, she could've sworn a bomb had been dropped outside. She quickly turned to look at Rhys, who looked worried at her being awoken so suddenly.

"You ok?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a strange recurrence," Fiona said.

 _"Stop screaming child. This will only hurt a lot."_

Fiona pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, trying to forget the child's screams that rang through her head. They sounded so agonizing, that it was enough to horrify anyone. She was sure the image was far, far worse. You didn't need to see to know it.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked.

"Five hours. Daylight's almost here, and the storm calmed down a little," Rhys told her.

"I'll take watch. You get yourself some sleep," Fiona said.

"I'm fine," Rhys said, but Fiona shook her head.

"You're the one with the map, and I don't need you falling asleep while we're traveling. Get some sleep, you stubborn bastard," Fiona told him. Rhys sighed before lying down next to the fire like she did.

Fiona drew her revolver just in case and looked out for anything that might come out of the cave. She couldn't place it, but the screams she heard sounded a little familiar. Too familiar. And why could she hear them as if they had just happened?

* * *

A/N: I've got a decent idea for what was in the Vault of the Traveler, but I'll keep that secret to myself. But I will be basing planet in the Borderlands game off Roman and maybe Greek mythology. Pandora? Hera? All Greek. Eden is Christian, but that's besides the point. Hope you enjoyed!


	9. Chapter 9 - Violent Reunion

Rhys yawned as he sat up from the ground and stretched the soreness out of his limbs. Fiona, who was still on watch, smiled at his revival.

"Finally. I've been waiting for you to get up so we can go," she said.

"So let me sleep in? How n-nice of you," Rhys said, yawning.

"I know. Now get your ass up so we can," Fiona urged him. Rhys rose to his feet and walked out of the cave, glad to see that the snowstorm had ended and it was far less cold. It was now somewhat bearable to walk in.

Rhys then brought up his map of the area and adjusted the direction he faced so all they had to do was walk forward.

"Where are we going, Mr. Atlas?" Fiona said in a mock chivalrous tone.

"All we have to do is keep going forward in this direction," Rhys said, pointing in the direction he was facing. He then deactivated the map and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Fiona stood right next to him and they began to walk to the town. She noticed that Rhys considerable more quiet today, and she couldn't remember as to why.

 _"Oh, yeah. The conversation about his arm from yesterday,"_ Fiona remembered. "What do you think we ought to do when we get to the town?" she said aloud.

"We'll buy some winter clothes off of them. Then we'll try and figure out how to get the hell of this planet," Rhys said. "Threaten or kill them if necessary."

"You really think it'll come to that?" Fiona asked.

"I got chased by an entire bandit camp for asking directions. And for being Hyperion, but that's not the point," Rhys said.

"This isn't Pandora though. And no one knows you're Hyperion. Well, ex-Hyperion," Fiona reminded him.

"But the scumbags remain the same. We'll be nice if they're nice, but I wouldn't count on it," Rhys said. Fiona really couldn't argue with that logic.

They continued towards the town without saying a word. Both adults seemed lost in their thoughts as they continued to walk. Fiona couldn't help but wonder what their friends were doing right now.

* * *

"What do you mean they're gone?!" Sasha exclaimed.

"That's just what I mean. They're gone. Like, we can't find them," Vaughn explained. Sasha rubbed her forehead out of minor stress before turning back to Vaughn.

"Well, do you know where they were heading?" she asked.

"Just like you, I was more focused on the loot. I didn't really notice anything else," Vaughn said.

"What about the Vault gate? Did they go through there?" Athena asked.

"Possibly. Would've taken a long time for them to get down there though," Vaughn said.

"It wouldn't take long if they were running. Rhys' legs were made for running, and Fiona's pretty damn fast. It would take them about a minute or so if they were running," Sasha explained.

"So the gate's definitely our first destination. Sure wish that Zer0 guy could've stuck around," Vaughn said.

"We can handle going through a gate. Let's go. For all we know, they're fighting more Vault monsters," Sasha said.

"Hope they saved some for the rest of us," Athena said, walking out of the room. Janey shook her head as she followed her girlfriend. Sasha turned to Vaughn.

"Let's hurry up before they get themselves into some worse situations than we've ever had," Sasha told him.

* * *

It took Rhys and Fiona a number of hours to get to the town. They also had to take breaks in caves they passed on the way. Of course, a few of them were snow skag caves, much to their displeasure. But nevertheless, they didn't get hurt and made it to the town in one piece. It seems no matter where they go, violence follows in some shape or form.

"Finally," Fiona said as soon as they came into eyesight with the town. "It's about time."

"Seriously. I'm cold as hell," Rhys said. "Let's hope they have plenty of winter clothes. I don't even care if they don't fit me. I'm gonna get hypothermia and frostbite at this rate."

They walked up to the town and noticed that the civilians around the place were very tightly bundled and they had snow visors that hid their faces. Rhys spotted a broken snowmobile machine, which was undoubtedly going to be useful.

Rhys walked to a man behind a counter, who had his back turned to them.

"Excuse me? Can we buy some winter clothes?" he asked.

"One moment. I shall be with you after I get this in order," the man responded. Fiona held her arms tightly and shivered from a sudden gust of wind.

"Rhys, I feel like I'm going to be frozen in time if I don't find something warm soon," she said.

"Hold on. He'll be with us in a second. Then we can finally stop freezing our asses off," Rhys assured her.

Rhys turned back to the salesman, who was already turned back around and stared at Rhys for a moment.

"Rhys? Did you say your name is Rhys?" the man asked.

"Yeah. What of it?" Rhys questioned.

"Nothing. Just let me get you fitted for these clothes," the man said, grabbing digital measuring tape. Calibrated to automatically get someone's measurements. Cheap and useful.

The man quickly got both of Rhys' and Fiona's measurement before moving the calibrations over to another machine.

 _"They have a surprising amount of tech out here,"_ Rhys thought as the man got their clothes together. It only took second for the machine to make them both winter clothes that fit them. Rhys and Fiona smiled at the sight of the clothes.

"Alright, how much?" Rhys asked.

"On the house. If you would indulge me for a moment..." the man said. Rhys raised a curious eyebrow.

"Ok..." Rhys trailed. He turned to Fiona, who shrugged. She was ready to draw her sleeve pistol in case things got bad.

The man removed his hood and his face mask so the two could see his face. Fiona looked shocked while Rhys... well, was just standing there.

"It's good to see you son," the man said with a smile. Fiona couldn't believe it. The man looked so much like Rhys, it was insane. Aside from the facial hair and his hairstyle, everything was about spot on. Rhys was practically a carbon copy of his father.

"You're doing alright," Rhys' father continued. Rhys' eyes flashed dangerously, and Fiona got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was going to go terribly wrong terribly fast.

"Fuck you," Rhys snarled. Fiona looked at Rhys in surprise. She didn't expect him to say that. Especially so viciously. Even when he was pissed at Athena, he didn't sound so harsh.

Rhys' father walked from around the booth and towards Rhys.

"You still remember? It's ok, I..." Rhys immediately cut him off.

"How could I not remember? I live with it almost everyday. I was only twelve! You did that to your own son, and you think you can acting like the caring father?!" Rhys snarled at him.

"Son-" At that point, Rhys snapped. He grabbed his father by the front of his coat and slammed him on the ground hard.

"To hell with you! I am not your son!" Rhys snarled.

Rhys grabbed the front of his father's jacket and began to relentlessly punch him in his left eye. The fury on Rhys' face was entirely unpredictable. He got the attention of some of the civilians, who did nothing but watch.

There was a loud, distinct popping sound and Fiona cringed. Rhys had punched his father's eye so hard, it had popped and she could see what was past it, which wasn't pretty. That didn't deter Rhys in his rage as he kept punching without mercy.

"Rhys..." his father started, but Rhys punched him hard enough to silence him immediately.

"Fuck you!" Rhys yelled, refusing to let up in his fury.

"That's enough!" a woman yelled while Fiona heard a click. She instantly turned and drew her sleeve pistol toward the direction she heard the click and had her pistol aimed at the woman who had a Jakobs pistol in her hand.

"Don't even think about it," Fiona warned the woman. Even though what she had was more deadly than her sleeve pistol. But Rhys turned in the blink of an eye and used the laser on his mechanical arm to blast the gun. She quickly threw the gun in the air from the power of the shock she was given, and was shaking her hand like crazy to try to help the pain. While she was doing this, Rhys was walking toward her in a menacing way.

"Hello mother," Rhys said, his tone anything but warm and friendly. Her eyes widened at the sight of Rhys and she backed away slowly, but he was already close when she tried to back away and grabbed her by the neck with his metal arm.

"If you can even call yourself one," Rhys added, his face now a cruel sneer.

"Gah. Please. Please Rhys. Baby boy..." his mother begged, but that only made him angrier and made him use his human arm to help in choking her as well.

Fiona wouldn't believe it if she wasn't watching it. Rhys was choking his mother, and not feeling guilty in the slightest. Was Rhys turning into a psychopath? Fiona didn't think she could watch much more.

"Rhys? That's enough," she suddenly said.

"Not yet it's not," Rhys said, squeezing her neck harder. She desperately tried to pry her son's hands off her neck, but he was a lot stronger than she was. She lost all strength in her legs and was now kneeling while Rhys leaned over her, his grip not letting up in the slightest. The fury on his was bordering on demonic, but definitely animalistic.

"Rhys, come on. We don't have time for this," Fiona told him, trying to dissuade him from strangling her. Rhys' mother's eyes became half lidded as she began to lose the rest of her oxygen. Then Rhys suddenly let her go with a hard push, and she convulsed for a moment before she gasped loudly. Her hand held her neck where her own son nearly strangled her to death without remorse.

Rhys closed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly before sighing.

"Let's just get the winter clothes and go," Rhys said dispassionately before taking the clothes that were fitted for him. Fiona watched Rhys for a moment before she grabbed the clothes that were made for her. The only thing they removed was their shoes so they could wear the Bullymong fur boots. Rhys stored those in his ECHO.

Fiona saw that a bunch of the civilians were watching Rhys, their expressions fearful. The blood on his metal arm and his face from where he popped his own father's eye made him look even more dangerous. When he was about to murder his own parents, he looked furious. Now he just looked empty. Like his soul had been drained out of him. You'd have to be deaf, blind, and stupid not to know he definitely had issues with his parents.

"Rhys..." Rhys' father moaned weakly. "I'm sorry."

Rhys bristled with anger, but he simply put on his snow mask and put his hood up before gesturing for Fiona to follow him, but she stopped him.

"Rhys, we need to stay here. Whether you like it or not, this place has the best chance for us to survive. That Snow Masher machine, the fires, shelter, and meds we can buy? Rhys, we need this," Fiona said, trying to convince him. Rhys half wanted to argue, but he knew for a fact that this town was their best chance of getting back.

"Fine. We'll stay here. But if you want to make sure those shitheads stay alive, keep them away from me," Rhys growled to the civilians that were watching him. They quickly grabbed Rhys' dad and dragged him away. They attempted to do the same for Rhys' mother, but she shook them off, saying she was fine. But the sad expression on her face proved that to be false.

 _"He's got nothing but loathing for his parents. What the hell happened between them?"_ Fiona thought. To her, a lifetime at Hyperion was worse than death, but for Rhys, it was the thing he wanted the most. She just couldn't understand it.

But Rhys' mother began approaching her son again, making him flex his fingers in a menacing way.

"Son, just let me explain..." she started, but Rhys cut her off angrily.

"There's nothing for you to explain. You obviously did not give a shit about me by doing what you did. Apparently to you, a son is something you can do whatever the fuck you want to with," he growled viciously. "Now show me a place to stay or I'll change my mind about not breaking your worthless fucking neck!" The expression on her face only turned more regretful.

"I'll show you what we have," she said, her tone dejected before she lead them away. Rhys and Fiona followed her, while Fiona kept watching Rhys flex his fingers that suggested a desire for strangling.

All of sudden, Rhys spotted a man running out of his house with a Jakobs shotgun and Rhys didn't even think about it before he shot the house right when the man was right next to it, and he froze.

"I don't think so asshole," Rhys said, striding up to the man and grabbed him by his shirt before socking him in the nose, breaking it. He punched him a second time, this time in the jaw, and several of his teeth fell out before Rhys threw him on the ground.

Rhys then grabbed the shotgun that he dropped while he was on the ground and aimed it at him with one hand.

"Lie on your stomach," Rhys said menacingly. The man slowly did as he was told before Rhys heard a click behind him. Rhys quickly turned while drawing his favorite corrosive Atlas pistol again and aimed it at the guy on the ground at the time he was aiming the shotgun at the man.

The second man had Fiona in a neck hold with a Maliwan pistol held to her skull. Wouldn't really do anything cause Fiona still had her shield on her belt. But he was too stupid to see it.

"Drop the shotgun," the man demanded me. Rhys rolled his eyes.

"Fiona, if you would kill this idiot..." he said. Fiona then drew her sleeve pistol and shot him in the foot before turning his arm with the gun away from her so she wouldn't bother getting shot. She then quickly disarmed him of the gun, drew it back on him, and shot him in the face with his own pistol before kicking his body on the ground. Then she pocketed his pistol as his face burned.

Rhys turned back to the man he had subdued with the pistol and pressed the shotgun on the back of his head.

"Nice try, but this is where you die," he said, his tone cold.

"No! Don't kill my dad!" someone yelled. Rhys instantly turned his attention and his shotgun on the voice. He saw a fourteen year old and his two younger sisters, who were hiding behind me in the man's doorway. Rhys raised an eyebrow. He trusted children as much as he trusted the adults, which was almost none. Rhys didn't care. He'd kill the kid if he needed to.

"Come here," Rhys said, lowering the shotgun slightly and gesturing his hand. His sisters gripped his pants, but the brother assured them it was going to be ok before approaching Rhys.

"I've got a few questions. And you will answer them honestly. If they aren't honest, I will kill your father," Rhys said, tapping the back of said man's head with the shotgun. "And if I don't like the answers, I will kill him. So you better hope your father fits the bill, am I clear?"

"Yes. Pearlescent clear," the boy said. Rhys then circled around the man's father. Fiona could only watch what Rhys. She had no idea what he had in mind.

"Now, tell me something. Is your daddy a good man?" Rhys asked, still circling around the man like a shark who saw blood in the water.

"Yes," the boy said instantly. Rhys couldn't detect any deception on the boy's face, so he continued.

"Treats you fairly, takes care of you, doesn't abuse you?" Rhys asked, now kneeling next to the man's body and poking his prone body with the shotgun. The boy looked considerably more nervous, but he swallowed the lump in his throat and answered.

"Yes. I love my father. Please don't kill him. I don't know you, but he's all we have around here," the boy begged. Rhys then looked at the man for a few more seconds. Fiona was anticipating what he was about to do. Just what was about all those questions? Was it all about his own parents being terrible people?

"On your feet," Rhys told the man. He slowly rose to his feet with his hands raised. Rhys then grabbed the man by the shirt forcefully and Fiona was scared he was going to melt through him with his arm laser. But he only pulled them man closer and growled in his face.

"Make no mistake. If any of you threaten me or my best friend, I'm going to rip your intestines out and make a noose out of them," Rhys said, pointing to the top of the man's house. "And if you let your kids go without a father, you're an even bigger piece of shit than I thought you were. Am I clear?"

"Very," the man said quickly.

"Fucking fantastic. Now get back in your house with your kids," Rhys said, letting him go and his tone now unemotional. The man quickly turned and ushered his kids inside, but Rhys threw the shotgun inside before he closed the door. Rhys didn't need it. He still had the Conference Call that Loader Bot had.

Rhys then gestured for his mother to lead the way, and she nodded slowly before walking again. She lead them to one of the buildings they had around this place and she handed Rhys the keys to the place.

"Enjoy your stay," Rhys' mother said halfheartedly, but Rhys didn't even look at her. His attention was more focused on the house.

"Don't worry. Once we get that Snow Masher machine fixed, we'll be out of your hair ASAP," he said, walking inside the house. Fiona followed, and they both noticed that there was only one bedroom to be in. It was predictable with houses this small, but it was still upsetting.

"We'll have to share the one room," Rhys said, pointing to it.

"You know, a gentleman would sleep on the floor," Fiona said.

"Would I rather be a gentleman or not freeze my ass off on the floor with no pillow or cover? Hmm. I think I'll choose the second option for $200 please!" Rhys said sarcastically. Fiona groaned.

"Why did we have to get Juno of all places to teleport to? Why not Eden? I hear it's very nice," Fiona said.

"Cause we're not that lucky. We have to freeze our asses off to build character," Rhys said, shooting a laser at the fireplace directly in the middle and ignited the fire before sitting directly beside it. Fiona did the same directly in front of Rhys. She and Rhys removed their face visors and hoods along with their gloves. They wouldn't compromise the coats though.

"So... why do you hate your parents so much?" Fiona asked gently. Rhys froze while the veins in Rhys' neck bulged and tightened before he tended the fire with his metal hand.

"You should know I hate telling this story," he said, not removing his attention from the fire. Fiona bit her bottom lip.

"It's ok. You don't-"

"But I will. Just so you'll understand. But if I tell it, promise me one thing," Rhys said.

"Depends. What is it?" Fiona asked.

"When I do, you'll tell Sasha. I..." A lump raised itself in Rhys' throat and she was shocked to see that tears were streaking down his face. But he faced her again. "I don't think I could relive again after this."

"Yeah, I'll tell her. But we'll help you through this. You know that," Fiona said. Rhys nodded and wiped the tears from his face before starting.

* * *

A/N: If you're wondering, yes, I am going to tell the story. Via flashback and every detail while be included. I'm not holding back. But I'm gonna warn you now. It's gonna be dark. It's pretty much going to be the darkest thing I've ever written. But it's a harsh reality, whether you know it or not. See you next time.


	10. Chapter 10 - Bad Memories

A/N: Yeah, remembered that dark chapter I promised? Well, it's here. I'd say enjoy, but I'm not sure you will. Hell, I was uncomfortable writing it. But I decided on doing this cause I really wanted to make more light of Hyperion's wrong doing. Cause in case you haven't noticed, a lot of Hyperion men take advantage of their position to do what ever the fuck they want. And you will see what I mean later in the story. It also proves that life off Pandora can be just as bad as life on it if not worse sometimes.

* * *

"Well, if you heard me or not, I said that I was only twelve when this happened. After finding out years later, my parents owed a mass debt to Hyperion. They had taken a bunch of money out of one of the banks Hyperion owned. The jobs that they had didn't pay nearly enough to pay back the amount of money they had taken out, which was just plain stupid," Rhys said.

"What did they use the money for?" Fiona asked.

"Gambling. Just like all addictions, it destroyed my family," Rhys said.

"That's stupid of them. They had a child to take care of. Could they even have put that money in something useful?" Fiona asked.

"Apparently not. Anyway, this is where things started to get worse..."

 _A twelve year old Rhys rubbed the back of his neck after laying his school bag on the floor and collapsing on the couch. He knew he had homework to do, but he'd do it after he rested. His father and mother stopped to talk about something, but Rhys hadn't thought much about it._

 _Rhys closed his eyes and sighed in relief. His mom would nag him about homework as soon as she walked in. Rhys knew that. But he'd find it easier to concentrate when his neck didn't feel like a Bullymong was sitting on it._

 _"Rhys?" he heard his father ask. Rhys opened his eyes and and noticed that his mom wasn't next to him either._

 _"Hey dad. Where's mom?" Rhys asked._

 _"In the back. She wanted to rest for a bit. Anyway, I've got something I need you to handle," Rhys' father said._

 _"What is it?" Rhys asked._

 _"This is a bit awkward, but I need you to go to work," his father said. Rhys looked at his father with a bewildered look and his father continued._

 _"Listen. We're in a bad way. We owe a lot of money to Hyperion. This man says if you can help him with some jobs, he'll pay off the debt that way," Rhys' father said. Rhys groaned._

 _"How bad are we talking here?" he asked._

 _"We won't have anything if you don't do this. I know you want to be a child still, but now's not the time for that," Rhys' father said, placing his hand on his son's shoulder. Rhys grunted in frustration. He knew if he didn't do this, they were done. No life, no hope of living up at the top of Hyperion. His ambition and his family's way of life wouldn't stop now._

 _"Alright. Where do I start?" he asked._

 _"Just head outside. A man from Hyperion will show you what you need to do," Rhys' father said. Rhys slowly rose to his feet and walked to the door. But he barely made it past the threshold before he felt a needle forcefully jammed into his neck. Rhys didn't even have time to think before he was unconscious and fell to the ground._

 _One man grabbed Rhys before he hit the ground, and he licked his lips before dragging Rhys away. The second man had a completely unemotional expression on his face as he addressed Rhys' father._

 _"Well will conduct the experiment as soon as possible. If he does not live through the surgery, you will be compensated in full as well as a little extra. If he does make it, your debt will be forgiven and you will still have your son," the man said._

 _"Just what is the survival rate on this project of yours?" Rhys' father asked._

 _"So far, there have been no survivors, but this may not be the case," the Hyperion man said, making Rhys' father's eyes widen._

 _"Wait, what? That is not what I signed up for!" he yelled._

 _"Correction. You volunteered your son for this project without even questioning about the survival rate. But don't worry. No matter what, your debt is forgiven," the Hyperion man said before walking off. Rhys' father gripped his hair before collapsing on the couch._

 _When Rhys woke up, he felt himself lying on a stainless steel surgery table. Rhys attempted to get up, but he looked around only to see that his arms and legs were bound by restraints. Now Rhys felt a little scared._

 _"Hello?" Rhys called out of the room._

 _"Glad to see you're awake kid," a voice said. Rhys rotated his head as best as he could to spot the person talking. He turned to see a man in a business suit with a wide smile on his face. Though his smile creeped him out._

 _"What's happening?" Rhys asked._

 _"Well, this is your lucky day child. You've been volunteered to participate in our little project. Luckily for you, we won't touching that pretty face of yours," the man told him._

 _"What the hell? My dad told me that you were giving me a job!" Rhys exclaimed, making the man laugh._

 _"Oh, that's gold. Then again, I may have a job for you after this. But we'll have to see if you live before that happens," the man said before turning to someone else. "Start it up."_

 _The next thing Rhys heard was the sound of a mechanical saw going off. He immediately started struggling as hard as he could against his restraints, but he felt a needle being jabbed into his neck._

 _"Stand still child. This will only hurt a lot," the man whispered into his ear. Suddenly Rhys felt his entire body turn rigid and his eyes erratically looked around the room. He couldn't move, he was p_ _owerless to do anything. Then a man with a surgeon's mask on his face was hovered over Rhys._

 _"Remember Zed, you're on thin ice. You screw this up, and you're getting your license revoked," the man said._

 _"Gotcha boss," Zed said, walking up to Rhys with his saw still in hand. He looked down at the struggling and tearful child in the chair and started cutting against the very edge of Rhys' arm while feeling no regret._

 _Rhys could move and he couldn't scream, but his eyes were trailing with tears from the pain. He wish he could squirm and see if it would take the pain away, but there was no doing that._

"The process was slow and agonizing. I still can feel it sometimes. That's not even a joke. I really can. Then came the drilling." Rhys pointed to where the central core process unit was in his head. "I could feel it all. I'm still amazed I didn't die of heart failure from watching all of that go down. They installed this, the plating that attaches my arm here, and the arm itself. It took over half an hour."

"Hyperion did that to you? How could you even work them after that?" Fiona asked.

"Cause ironically, Handsome Jack is the reason I even got justice for the bad part," Rhys said. Fiona was about to argue against that, but then she noticed what he said.

"Wait, that wasn't why you hate your parents?" she asked.

"What? God no. If that was all, I'd actually thank them for setting me up for that. This arm is kind of reason I'm still alive, not counting when Jack tried to kill me. No, I'm not done yet. There's a darker side of the story," Rhys said, looking solemn again. Fiona looked horrified. She couldn't imagine what it was like to know what it was like when your parents didn't give a shit whether you lived or died.(I couldn't get the strength to write a flashback for this. I just couldn't do it)

"After a few months, I had gotten used to the arm. The pain had numbed down and I was fine. The Hyperion guys had kept their word. We were forgiven for the loan. Then came the nightmarish part." Fiona's heart dropped. She was dreading what was about to happen here.

"I remember one day I was in school when I heard that I was being checked out of school. I didn't know why, but I didn't question it when I walked out of that classroom earlier than usual. If I knew what was in store, I would've stayed in the class."

"I walked out of the class with my bag on my back and the man in the suit who was in charge of my 'upgrade' was there. Said that he wanted me for another job. I refused, saying I had enough of his upgrades. He told me that I didn't have a choice in the matter. Pointed a Hyperion pistol and me and made me get in his car."

"When we got to where he was going, which took a while, I was forced into a building at gunpoint. It was an old building, but the place was in good condition. And very secluded. The kind of place where you won't be disturbed."

"I was led inside and to another surgery table. At that point, I started begging and pleading for him not to conduct any other painful experiments on me. I said I'd be willing to do anything. He laughed and told me that he wouldn't be doing anything like that."

"As I was lying on my back on the surgery table, he roughly turned me over and straddled my back. He then leaned forward and whispered next to my air and whispered in a loving way that was more intimidating than anything and said, 'I don't need to ruin any more of you with technology. That's what my dick is for.'"

"Stop. Please stop now," Fiona interrupted, closing her eyes tightly and waving her hands. She knew exactly where this was going, and didn't want to hear it. Not at all. But Rhys angrily looked at her.

"You made me relive this. You get to hear how it ends," he told her. Fiona gave Rhys a sad look. She wouldn't have dared brought it up if she knew it was this bad." Rhys swallowed hard before continuing.

"I lied face down on the table, and begged for my life. Then I felt him turn me back around and roughly kiss me. I nearly vomited and moved my head erratically to try and move my face away from his. He grabbed me under my chin and forced me to look directly at him. He said, 'You would dare deny a Hyperion? We construct your future! You will do what we say!'"

"I somehow got the courage to respond, 'I don't care.' That only made him angry and then I felt him grab my human hand and wrench it behind my back painfully. I whimpered from the pain and he groaned before laughing. After that he said, 'Man, THIS is why I joined Hyperion. The ability to do whatever I want and say it's in their name.' No shame in it either. Sounded like he even felt good about it."

"Then... then..." Rhys stuttered over his words while biting his bottom lip. She could see the anguish on his face. "HE RAPED ME! HE FUCKING RAPED ME!" Rhys was suddenly on his feet and angry, but tears were falling down his face. Rhys gripped his hair and went over to the wall. He then began banging his head on the wall, and Fiona quickly got up to try and stop him from banging his head on the wall.

Rhys' head was bleeding from smacking his head with so much force and Rhys curled his toes in displeasure at the memory of being... penetrated. Even now, the memory caused him to feel dirty. Even the concept of having sex would make him feel insecure. He wrapped his arms around his legs he looked more like a child than a grown man.

"I called for my mother. I begged for her to help. No one came. No one could hear me," Rhys sobbed. Fiona's heart wrenched before realizing that that she somehow heard Rhys' cries back when... that happened. Rather than feeling weirded out, she just felt sick.

"Just leave me alone, Fiona," Rhys said, refusing to look her in the eye.

"If you think I'm doing that, you're crazy," Fiona said firmly.

"Leave me alone," Rhys repeated.

"No," Fiona said even more firmly.

"It's your fault I'm even feeling like this. Leave me be," Rhys said, still refusing to look at her. Fiona felt a little guilty on that one. She is the one who brought this back up for him to relive. But he did decide to tell her.

"Listen, go to bed. Just leave me alone," Rhys repeated.

"I just can't. I don't want to leave you alone with-"

"I've lived with it for a long time while by myself. I dealt with it for over 10 years before I told Vaughn. It was painful enough telling him and it hurts even more now," Rhys said before Fiona hugged him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I can't imagine, and I really don't want to imagine what you felt," Fiona said.

"I'll tell you what I felt like. Weak. Just as weak as I felt all of the times I nearly died from a stronger person. You. Sasha. Even the random bandits. It's all the same. I may have changed, but I'm still the same scared Hyperion that I was before on the inside. And no one would care about me. Not after what happened-" Fiona lost all patience for the man's rambling and pulled his face towards hers and kissed him softly.

"Well, I do. I fucking do. Don't you ever fucking dare think no one cares about you cause someone did _you_ wrong. I don't care. I will slap the shit out of you if you say otherwise," Fiona said with aggression. Her face was furious, but Rhys could tell her intent was pure.

Then Rhys thought of Sasha and he couldn't bother to stand there much more. He stood up and headed for the one room of the house. Fiona sat where she was for a while before she then began to scold herself.

 _"Fucking stupid Fiona. Not only have you weirded Rhys out, but you've betrayed your own sister's trust. What the fuck is wrong with you?"_ she thought to herself. _"Damn you Rhys."_ Fiona then stood to her feet decided to stay by the fire longer before she headed to bed.

* * *

A/N: Again, I just don't have the nerve to write something that dark in full detail. I just lose all comfort if I ever tried to write something that terrible. Cause I just get horrified after hearing something like that. Anyway, I thought the small little backstory for Zed was slick, but nice in my opinion. Leaves you guessing really. I've also left a lot of things to leave you wondering, especially Fiona, but I love doing that to you all. I'll explain that more later, but I'm going to cut this short. See you all!


	11. Chapter 11 - Getting on the Road Again

A/N: I'm getting close for them to transfer to another planet, but I'm going to drag out this time on Juno for a little while longer. Until I feel I've accomplished what I've intended.

* * *

Rhys was the first one to get up the next morning. He barely got a few hours of sleep in before he was plagued with an irritating case on insomnia. He knew if he just sat here, his mind would wander back to last night's events, and that was something he sincerely wanted to avoid. He knew his time was better spent working on the snowmobile machine. First things first. He needed to figure out what was wrong with the machine. ECHO eye could definitely do most of the work for him.

He walked out of the house and walked towards the snowmobile machine or the Snow Smasher as it was dubbed by the Dahl company. Rhys was the first one to admit he didn't like Dahl. Not cause of Hyperion. Those days were long gone. Just because he knew what Dahl had planned. Rhys was only an intern at the time, but he'll never forget when he was almost shredded by bullets cause of the soldiers that were slaughtering everything Hyperion. But some Vault Hunters had killed just about everyone aboard. Rhys couldn't believe he ended up being saved by a Claptrap unit of all things. Just about all of them were useless at anything that didn't involve opening doors.

Snapping himself out of his thoughts, he focused on looking at the Snow Masher machine. Activating ECHO-eye, he quickly analyzed the machine.

Model: Snow Smasher 2.0(Cause fuck 1.0)

Manufacturer: Dahl

Status: Fried to hell

Description: "This machine is completely unaffected by snow. No matter the amount. And it sure as hell beats walking. Also good at running skags over."

Rhys continued to examine around the machine and saw that the machine was missing a power core. The ones in the vendors wouldn't even keep this thing powered for five minutes, but it only had to last long enough for them to get a Smasher. It would be good enough.

But he also remembered that it said that the machine was fried to hell. So he took off the panel in the front of the machine, and a large spark immediately made him have to turn away to avoid his face being scalded by electricity.

 _"It wasn't kidding when it said 'fried to hell.' The wires and circuits are completely useless. Gonna need to find a replacement,"_ Rhys thought as he looked over the back panel. _"Just what the fuck happened to it?"_

Whatever happened to it, he couldn't focus on right now. He just needed to fix it.

"Need some help?" Rhys could hear his father ask behind him. Rhys bristled with anger, but he kept his cool.

"Unless you can find me a completely new circuit panel, no you cannot," Rhys said with some restrained irritation in his voice.

"Well, I don't have one of those, unfortunately. Do you need anything other than that?" Rhys' father asked.

"No. I do not," Rhys said, his tone clearly irritated now. "Shouldn't you be lying with the bitch I have the unfortunate pleasure of calling my mother?"

"Watch it Rhys," his father said, his tone firm. Rhys immediately stood up to face his father with a dark look.

"You don't have the right to act like my dad, so you can take that shit somewhere else. Want me to treat you like my dad. You aren't my dad. You're my father," Rhys said coldly. "If you knew that you weren't going to care about me in the first place, you should've worn a fucking condom."

Before he could even attempted to respond, Rhys stormed off past his father and got on the ECHO net.

"This is a planet wide ECHO for anyone on Juno who can find me a new circuit panel for a Snow Masher machine. I'll pay you plenty if you can find it," Rhys said before quickly ending the message. Then the door opened behind him and he saw that his father had followed him in here.

"You're not wanted in here. Get out," Rhys said coldly.

"No. Son-"

"Not your son. Your offspring. Get the fuck out," Rhys said, pointing at the door.

"No. Not until you tell me why I you are so angry with me. I mean, I thought you would be over losing your arm by now. It's been serving you well, I can tell," Rhys' father said, pointing to his missing eye covered by a bandage.

"If you think the arm is why I hate you, you're a fucking moron. Apparently you don't think the loss of a child's sexual innocence is much of a crime. Even the psychos on Pandora are as bad as you, you selfish fuck," Rhys snarled, spitting at his father's feet. His father's face turned into one of confusion.

"Wait, what are you-" Before he could finish, Rhys strode up to him and grabbed him by his neck again.

"Six years. Six _fucking_ years I lived with this and told no one. Do you know what it's like to live with the idea of being raped for six _fucking_ years?" Rhys growled. "It had happened so often, I had gotten used to it. I lost sense of fear, sadness, and anger around him. I had become numb to it. I was a submissive little dog. At least, that was what I was to _him."_

"Rhys..." Rhys pushed his father out of the door and onto the cold ground while walking out back towards him.

"I can't give you my pain. If I could, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I can beat the shit out of you until I feel better," Rhys said, sitting on top of his father and began to mercilessly beat the ever living shit out of him.

Rhys poured all of the emotion he had into his punches. He had no emotional strength to cry anymore. All he had was anger.

Rhys punched. And punched. And punched. He punched until he couldn't punch anymore. And his father just laid there and took it, tears staining the older man's face.

The pain from Rhys' punches were not what was causing it. That he could handle. No, it was the gravity of Rhys' last statement.

 _"Six years. Six fucking years I lived with this and told no one. Do you know what it's like to live with the idea of being raped for six_ fucking _years?"_

Raped. His child was raped. The outcome of their bad decisions had affected their child far worse than him or Ana could've imagined.

 _"I deserve this. If where I lay will be my grave, I deserve it. I have hurt my child beyond repair,"_ his father thought.

Then Rhys stopped after a few minutes. After a while, he noticed that his father was just sitting there and accepting it. He took the beating almost serenely. He kneeled next to his father and trailed the barrel of his revolver along the side of his head.

"I should kill you. A lot of things are telling me that I should put a bullet in your head. But I'm not going to. I want to watch you hurt every day that I'm here. Because almost nothing brings me greater joy than that," Rhys said, still trailing the revolver along his head.

Rhys felt like it was just yesterday he was a docile and weak Hyperion. Now he was on his way to becoming an Atlas kingpin who was willing to kill his father for fun.

Rhys had wondered how far had he gone towards the side of evil. But what really made him question the feeling is that he _liked_ it. He liked it a lot.

Rhys felt no sexual elation from this, but he got pleasure doing this nonetheless. To be in control. To be powerful, imposing, and no longer weak like before... it felt good. Wonderful really. Almost like coming off a high.

Rhys had looked at his father and smiled. His blood had run cold. Rhys' father had never seen a smile so amused. So happy. So... predatory. Not even on a Hyperion's face.

"You know, you've made me realize something. I've discovered that I enjoy doing this to you. I love watching you hurt. It makes me feel good on the inside. And I don't plan on giving up that pleasure by killing you. Now, that wouldn't be very fun," Rhys said, his predatory smile apparent on every line of his handsome face. "So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to beat you near to death every day that I'm here. I'm going to let you heal only to break you again. And I may even get mother to join us. Ooh, wouldn't that be fun?"

Rhys' father's eyes widened at his son's statement and the tone that he used. It was full of playfulness and excitement. He sounded so excited, you could've sworn he just won the lottery. And he was talking about beating his parents close to death. For the first time he laid eyes on his son, he felt truly afraid.

Rhys was right. He wasn't his son anymore. The smart, polite, and ambitious kid he knew and loved was gone. What was in his place was a dark man. A man reshaped by his experiences. Filled with darkness, violence, and sadism. And he feared him. He knew he was capable of anything right now. And he would enjoy doing it too.

Rhys then walked over to a random citizen's door, and a man answered in response. He pointed to his father's bloody and broken body.

"I think father needs some medical attention. Don't you think so?" Rhys said to the man. The man looked at Rhys fearfully, and Rhys simply smiled. He enjoyed seeing that fear in people.

Rhys then waved to his father with a happy air before walking back to his house. Fiona was huddled up by the fire, and she looked up once Rhys walked inside. She saw his hands and his coat was coated with blood. She didn't need to guess what he had been doing.

"Did you kill him?" Fiona asked idly. She no longer had sympathy for the man after Rhys had told his story. No one should have to recollect a memory like that.

"No. I'm only going to keep him alive to keep beating on him. I want him to live in pain for every day that I'm here," Rhys said. Fiona nodded. She could understand that. "How long have you been up?"

"Only a few minutes. I saw you were gone and thought you had gone to work on the snowmobile machine. I can see that wasn't the case," Fiona said, eyeing the blood on him.

"That was my intention, but he interrupted. Then things got violent," Rhys told her. "He pretty much asked for it.

"I just want to get off this damn planet," Fiona said.

"We will," Rhys assured her before his tone turned awkward. "About last night..."

"If you say you don't feel loved again, I'm gonna punch you in the dick," Fiona said automatically.

"Not that. I'm talking about when you kissed me," Rhys said. Fiona kept her eyes on the fire with an even expression, but her neck flushed.

"I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up..." she trailed.

"How could I not? I mean, me and your sister are dating. I mean, why would you do that?" Rhys asked. Fiona groaned.

"It's your fault," she said, making Rhys looked utterly bewildered.

"So it's _my_ fault that _you_ kissed _me?_ The fuck, Fiona?" he asked.

"You needed cheering up! I just acted, for fucks sake. I didn't think about it," Fiona said.

"Your methods for cheering up are pretty questionable," Rhys said. "Look, just don't do it again. If that's the only way you can think of to cheer me up, let me swallow in misery."

"But it worked, didn't it?" Fiona asked. Rhys bit his bottom lip. The crazy thing was that it _did_ work. Even though his mind was as confused as all living shit when she did do it.

"Ok, ok. I see your point. But next time, do something less suggestive. Like a hug or something," Rhys said.

"I don't see you complaining," Fiona said with a teasing smirk.

"Who said I was?" Rhys said, immediately regretting his words. He was going down a dangerous road. But he was going through withdrawal since Sasha wasn't here.

"I think we both can agree that it would easier if we don't tell Sasha about my more than questionable methods," Fiona said with a grimace.

A pit of guilt rose up in the girl's stomach from her actions as well. She knew things would get messy between all of them if Fiona told her sister what had happened. Now she felt like a piece of shit.

"I can agree with that," Rhys said before looking directly in the fire. "I don't feel as if I can have sex with her." Fiona's eyebrows furrowed. Just what was his problem?

"What is she not attractive enough for you?" she asked. Rhys shook his head.

"No, of course not. She's goddamned gorgeous really. It's just... I feel as if I can't really expose myself, you know? Every time I could feel her going for the bottom of my shirt, I tense up. I end up backing out. It really kills the mood. She's asked why, but I never explained. I mean, how could I?" he explained, his voice getting softer.

"She's never told me this," Fiona said with a frown.

"That's because you gave her the impression that you don't approve of what we have. So why would she talk to you about the relationship you don't care about?" Rhys asked, his tone still soft. Fiona bit her lip. She was condescending initially, she didn't think it would get to a point where she would stop talking about her problems with her.

Then Rhys heard a knock at their door and Rhys instantly drew two revolvers. One fire, the other corrosive. Then he opened the door and spun both his revolvers while having a displeased expression on his face.

"State your business," Rhys said in a demanding tone.

"Are you the one who asked for a new circuit panel?" the man asked, ignoring Rhys' violent reaction. Rhys raised an eyebrow. That was pretty fast.

Rhys put his revolvers back in his ECHO and examined the circuit breaker. It appeared to be in perfect condition. Rhys took out five hundred bucks out of his ECHO and gave it to the man. He gladly accepted and handed Rhys the circuit breaker before walking out. Then he showed the device to Fiona.

"Looks like we're on our way," he said. Fiona smiled.

"So we are. Go ahead and get it fixed so we can get moving," Fiona said. Rhys was tempted to stay here just to keep beating his father, but he'd rather get back to Sasha as fast as possible.

So Rhys walked back outside and ripped out the fried panel and inserted the new panel into the machine. Then he took out the power core of the gun vendor and inserted it into the machine. He quickly hacked the machine so they didn't have to pay for the Snow Smasher.

Rhys spawned two of them for himself and Fiona and Rhys took the lead with his map open. But the wind and snow was blowing in their vision, which was the sign of a snowstorm.

"Looks like we left at the wrong time!" Fiona yelled over the wind.

"Yeah, looks like it. We're about 10 miles out from the next piece of civilization. Juno has a rough landscape, but there is a government that runs this place. We just have to head to the capital," Rhys yelled back.

"How far is that?" Fiona asked.

"Over a hundred miles out. We got a long way to go. We'll definitely have to stop at several towns to make the trip when this storm hits," Rhys told Fiona. She groaned. She wasn't looking forward to this trip, but at least the time away from his father would guarantee she would get the old Rhys back. And that she was happy about.


	12. Chapter 12 - Hotel Slaughter

Rhys cracked his neck as he stepped off his snowmobile. Fiona followed Rhys' lead and they stood side by side as they walked into the town, their masks hiding Rhys' cold look and Fiona's calculating one. As a pair, they oozed confidence and lethality.

Rhys was intelligent, vicious, an excellent marksman, and could throw punches when the situation called for it. Just by the way he walked, the way that he walked in strides and kept his face surveying every possible corner gave off a feeling of death and cruelty. The weaker Hyperion was gone. Replaced was a dangerous and ruthless Atlas businessman.

Fiona, while not as impressive as her partner in terms of combat and technology, she was still a formidable foe. She commanded beauty, cunning, and charm. That in itself could be just as deadly as any bullet. And she was far from a lightweight in combat either. She was accurate, crafty, and quick thinking on the battlefield. She knew how to turn the tide in her favor in most situations at the drop of a dime. You wouldn't even see it coming.

Rhys was like a hammer and a sword. Brutal and merciless in his actions, but crafted into a denizen of skill. Fiona was like a Swiss Army Knife. For her, there was always another way. If there was, she would find it while immediately adapting to her situation. This made the pair deadly with the way the complimented each other.

"This already looks like a better town than the last one," Rhys noted as they walked in.

"So do I," Fiona said, examining the buildings. She knew he wasn't just talking about the absence of his father in this case. Upon driving up to the town, they saw that the buildings were taller, in better shape, and less primitive. This place would make sure they were plenty comfortable. Where they wouldn't have to huddle up next to a fire to stay warm and able take off their heavily layered winter clothing.

They walked inside, and the inside looked like a three star establishment, which was really impressive considering most of the planet is just a frozen wasteland.

They both looked around while removing their masks. They could feel the warmth from the heaters in this place, and it was really comforting. Rhys surveyed the area and saw that there was one person asleep at the desk. Rhys rolled his eyes before walking up the desk and kicking it. The man immediately awoke with a start.

"Gerald, I swear to God. If you do that one more time…" the man grumbled before laying eyes on Rhys and Fiona. His eyes lingered on Fiona a little longer than normal before he sat up straight and looked directly at Rhys. "You're not Gerald."

"Obviously. We need a room," Rhys said.

"I'd say that's obvious as well. Names?" the man asked, picking up a digital pad on the counter.

"Rhys. "

"Fiona."

They both kept their answers short and to the point. Rhys always had his shoulders tensed up, ready to draw his revolver if needed. The place was empty, but Rhys knew that situations could change at the drop of a dime. Fiona was also ready with her sleeve pistol in case things turned awry.

"I see you both have on some pretty antique shields there," the man said, noticing the Atlas elemental resistance shields on their belts. "Do you have any weapons?"

"Yes. Like this," Rhys said, drawing an Atlas Masher. It was his favorite weapon next to his corrosive revolver. Just raw damage and excellent stats overall. The man's eyes widened.

"I'm going to have to ask you to turn them over. You'll be safe here," the man assured them.

"Fuck that. You don't go anywhere without a gun," Fiona said, placing her hand on her hip and looking at the man with a stern look on her face. She preferred to solve situations without having to waste bullets, but she couldn't deny that having a gun was useful when you're on Pandora. Or anywhere in fact.

"I understand your paranoia, but you have to turn them over or you don't get in," the man said.

"Then we'll leave," Rhys said, immediately turning around. Fiona followed him without hesitation. They were about to pull their masks on when the man suddenly whistled. At once, auto turrets fell from under the ceiling and Rhys quickly swapped to his corrosive pistol while Fiona whipped out her sleeve one.

Rhys fired at the turrets and the corrosive ate away at it quickly while Fiona fired two well placed shots that immediately shut the turret down. Rhys looked at the man, a look of rage on his face when he noticed the man was running down a hallway with random workers armed with Vladof assault rifles came running towards them.

"Kill the pair of them! The legend of Yin and Yang ends now!" one random worker said. Fiona and Rhys immediately ran outside to take cover behind the door and they both had to pull their masks back on to see over the snow getting in their faces and to prevent their eyes from getting cold. But it muffled the sounds around them, making it harder to hear if they got close. (If any of you are curious, yin is negative, dark, and feminine while yang is exactly the opposite. Light, positive, and masculine.)

"Just what did they mean about Yin and Yang?" Fiona asked.

"Let's worry about surviving before we worry about that. Your sleeve pistol doesn't have enough range to hit those guys from here. Use this," Rhys said before tossing her his Masher and tossing it to Fiona. "Don't lose it now. That's my third baby." Fiona rolled her eyes before turning the corner and quickly aiming and shooting several of the men in the head before they immediately started shooting back and forced her to hide back behind cover. She had a shield, but she didn't want to rely it.

"Who's your first and second baby?" Fiona asked. Rhys turned the corner and immediately shot two of the workers in the blink of an eye before going back behind cover to talk to Fiona.

"Sasha and my corrosive pistol. Duh. Who else?" Rhys questioned. Fiona turned the corner and shot another worker, but then more came out.

"One, I will never understand what it is with men and guns. Two, I say that because I was hoping you didn't have a child that you left behind. Then I would hate you again," Fiona said.

"No. I was more focused on making it in Hyperion before I thought about something like that. Plus it's not like women were necessarily jumping on me back on Helios. Most of them were fucking bloodsuckers. Even my exes," Rhys said, turning the corner and firing three quick shots in the crowd. Before Fiona could even respond to that, they heard a soft 'ting' which quickly revealed to be a grenade bouncing from the floor.

The two of them immediately dived away from the grenade, but there was a hill behind them and the dolphin dive they did was a lot a lot longer than what either of them were expecting. Rhys decided to go ahead and discard the one bullet left in his mag and swapped his clip before changing to the Conference Call. He was aching to try this shotgun out.

The two of them stayed on the hill, just below their field of view. The familiar rush of combat came back to the both of them, and blood was pounding in both of their ears from the suspense.

"Check if you got them with that MIRV!" one of the workers yelled. Rhys slowly crawled his way up the hill to get closer, but he made sure to stay just outside their field of view.

"I don't see blood splattered everywhere, so they must've gotten away," one of the workers yelled back. Rhys instantly stood up on the hill with the Conference Call raised and immediately pulled the trigger while aimed at his head. His skull was crushed from three different directions as the shotgun's pellets passed clean through him like a hot knife through butter.

"Oh, yeah. I definitely like this shotgun," Rhys said as he advanced forward with his sights up. Workers began firing at Rhys as soon as they saw him, but the Conference Call was definitely a long range shotgun as the pellets traveled unusually far for a shotgun while still keeping a tight spread to make for a deadly headshot. Fiona decided to Rhys' lead and she kept her aim up as she sat up and fired into the building.

Bullets hit their shields, but definitely not all of them as their aim was not the best. But Rhys and Fiona had the aim of a practiced marksman and woman as all of their shots were dead on. The bullets that hit their shields did not make them flinch very much.

When their shields got low, they had to hide behind the edge of the door, but corpses of the workers that had tried to kill them littered the floor of the lobby. They couldn't have that many workers left.

Rhys unpinned an incendiary Explosive Rain grenade and tossed it into the room before turning the corner while swapping the Conference Call for his corrosive pistol and his laser sword. It's been a while since he used it, so he felt like now would be a fun time. At least on the worker that set this all up in the first place.

Like he expected, workers ran from the toss of Rhys' grenade and it was really easy to just shoot them in the back of the head. Then Rhys smiled while twirling both his revolver and laser sword like batons. Fiona rolled her eyes when she saw the man doing that.

"Stop showing off," she told him.

"I'm not showing off. I'm just having fun," Rhys said.

"Same difference. Anyway, do you think anyone survived?" Fiona asked.

"They won't be for long if they are. But first we need to get some answers about what they meant about 'the legacy of Yin and Yang,'" Rhys said, making Fiona nod.

The two of them walked over the dead bodies that littered the hallways. A lot of them were corroded, thanks to Rhys' revolver. The melted flesh on them stunk too. The sight was just as nasty. It was like having a really bad chemical burn, but it sunk deep. Fiona could see that melted bone and meat had come out of the skin and started pooling out onto the floor. Not to mention that it was still spreading even though they were dead. She nearly gagged.

"This is why I like the corrosive revolver," Rhys said as he looked over one of the workers' bodies. Fiona looked at Rhys with a type of horror. He enjoyed doing this to people? The corrosive setting on her revolver didn't do anything like... this.

"You enjoy doing... this?" Fiona asked him, pointing to the mutilated body before her feet.

"Yes. Yes, I would say that I do. Because it comforts me knowing they died painfully after trying to kill me and someone I cared about. So fuck them," Rhys said, continuing to step over the dead bodies. The thought of Rhys enjoying the fact that someone died like this was unnerving, but she was a little touched by his statement. But it was still a little unnerving to her. Rhys had become a lot more hardcore than she had originally thought. He knew what corrosive weapons did to people, and that's why he liked them. That's either hardcore or sadism. Sadism seemed very unlikely considering his past, so it was likely him being hardcore, which in her opinion, was a lot more badass.

She followed him down the hallways and they kept checking the doors to see if anyone was there. At one point, Rhys opened a door where the worker from the front desk was backed against the wall with an assault rifle raised at the door. The man fired at Rhys as he approached him, but his shield held up more than enough to take the bullets. He grabbed the rifle with his human hand and pointed it away from him before he backhanded the man with his metal hand.

"It's rude to shoot at people you know," Rhys said, raising him up by his throat and headbutted him hard enough to break his nose without hurting his own head. At least Handsome Jack taught him a few useful things. "You'll learn that today."

"I thought your wife was the one to get her hands dirty, not you," the man said.

"She's not my wife dumbass," Rhys snapped. Fiona put a hand on Rhys' shoulder to try and calm him.

"Easy there. We need him alive," she said before turning to the man. "You mentioned something about the legacy of Yin and Yang. What did you mean by that?" The man's eyes widened.

"You're not-" the man started before he understood. "You're her daughter. You have to be."

"Who's daughter? What are you even talking about?" Fiona asked. The man shook his head.

"You're not turning out to be like her. I won't let you," the man said. Before Rhys could say anything, she growled before grabbing the man by the front of his shirt and pulling him close to her face. Rhys decided to let her handle him. He figured she was more than capable of handling him. Rhys figured his time was better spent searching for anymore survivors.

Rhys searched room after room until he came across room that gave him an idea. Well, the idea itself was so cruel it would likely work. That is, if the man wasn't like his father.

He walked in a room of children. Several were holding pistols and they trembled at the sight of Rhys. Rhys calmed down. There were only children here. And they were scared. But Rhys had an idea to use them to his advantage.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me," Rhys said softly, approaching them slowly while putting his revolver back in his ECHO. Then all of a sudden, all of them who were holding guns opened fired on him. Rhys' instincts immediately kicked in and he summoned his Masher, blasting every child who was holding a gun in their hand. His heart was pounding and his face furious.

"I was not going to hurt you. I was not going to hurt. Yet... I only get closer and you try to kill. Why?" Rhys asked when he noticed a few children moving closer to the weapons and he shot near them. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"

"My father told me to shoot you if you came in," one of the children said. Rhys grimaced at the child before his face turned into one of fury and he quickly ran towards the child, who quickly scrambled for the corner, but Rhys grabbed him by his foot and slammed the child on his face so hard, his nose broke.

"Tell me, does it make me a bad man to defend myself?! Your father attacked me and my friend first, and you want to play the defenseless card? It's a perk of being a child, isn't it?" Rhys said idly. "Guess what. It won't work on me. Not anymore. This will not be a Macbeth." Reloading the clip in his revolver, he aimed his gun at the three children who had huddled over in the corner when Rhys reloaded his clip.

"You know what? How about we be conservative?" Rhys said, taking out an Explosive Rain grenade. He then piled the bodies all around the children and they began to cry. The cries much reminded of the ones he made when he was raped, but the difference here was that these children were deserving. They wanted to kill a man who meant no harm to them? Fine. He'd show them the consequences of messing with the wrong man. Granted, it was bad to use children as collateral, but Fiona needed that information.

"Please don't kill us," one child begged. Rhys walked over to the corner they were in and kneeled down to look the trembling child in the eye.

"You did not show me the same luxury. Why should I because you're younger than me? That's not how this works with me. Not anymore. You had a chance to be spared. To not be punished by the actions of your parents, but you threw it out of the window and spat in my face. That is unforgivable," Rhys growled.

"We're sorry!" the kids chorused, but Rhys was having none of it.

"Tell it to Satan when you meet him," Rhys said, dragging the kid he KOed out with him. He made it out of the door before unpinning the grenade and tossing it in the room before closing the door. He then grabbed the child's body as he heard the explosion that rattled the hinges on the door.

"What are you doing?!" the child yelled at him, finally waking up.

"Making a deal with your father," Rhys said before the child began to struggle. Rhys no longer had patience for an irritating distraction, so he dropped his hold on the child's legs before holding him by his neck with his metal arm before repeatedly punching the child in the face with all his might.

"Stop it!" the child yelled, but Rhys' cold expression remained as he kept punching him.

"Your hopes of that happening were gone when you struggled against me. I have no tolerance for your attitude. And to ensure you don't move..." Rhys trailed before drawing his laser sword. "...I'm going to show you a lesson of pain." The child yelled and begged for mercy as Rhys ignited his laser sword.

* * *

A/N: Getting dark real quick, isn't it? Even I didn't expect it to go this far, but oh well. Ce la vie. We'll be leaving Juno real soon. I might go to a different planet, but I kinda wanna get back to Pandora. I'll leave it up for you to decide. Leave it in a review. The most votes gets what they want. You have at least a week to decide. Adios!


	13. Chapter 13 - Back to Pandora

A/N: This came sooner that I expected, but I can't help but write this story! It's getting so fun! And since the only vote did in fact vote for going back to Pandora, that's exactly what we'll do. And they'll get back in this chapter, so be prepared for that.

* * *

"Tell me!" Fiona yelled at him.

"You're not getting a word out of me. Trust me, if you knew who your parents were, if you had any decency, you'd hate them as much as we do," the man said.

"I'm a former con woman recently turned Vault Hunter. Decency is a very thin line as far as I'm concerned," Fiona told him. The man looked up Fiona with a disgusted expression.

"So you're already following in mommy's footsteps? Now I do wish we would've killed you. You're going to be just as much of a murderous bitch as she was," the man said, causing the rage in Fiona to swell up.

"Don't you speak about my mother like that," she growled.

"To a woman you don't know, but we do? Believe me, there are a lot of people who feel the same way about her. It's not just me. Atlas has done their research. She's got a body count that rivals Pandora's daily count," the man said before a beat up body bound by bedsheets was tossed in front of the man. He visibly trembled. "J-Jack?" Rhys bristled with irritation at the child's name while clenching his fists as he walked in the room.

"You don't know how much I've grown to hate that name," he told the man before eying him, who stared at him with anger.

"What did you do? What the fuck did you do?!" the man growled. Fiona looked down at the child and her eyes widened. The child's face was badly bruised and his nose looked broken. His arm looked mangled, and there were holes where his knees were, but they didn't seem to be bleeding. Fiona then looked back at Rhys, who simply nodded at her before turning to the man.

"This is what happens when you try to recruit children to shoot me. He'd be dead if Fiona didn't need something from you. But that'll change quick..." Rhys said, drawing his corrosive revolver and kneeling next to the unconscious child. "...if you don't tell my friend about her parents. I suggest you act fast. I have a painful method for your child that'll get you to reconsider."

"Did you kill the rest of them?" he asked. Rhys raised his metal hand airily before kneeling directly in front of the man's face with an expression as cold as the weather outside.

"Yes. Shot a few of them and blew the rest of them to little, sticky pieces. Go ahead. Ask me if I care and I'll give you my answer immediately," he said, pointing to his face. The man growled and tried to get up, but like Rhys was lightning fast. In a blur, he had summoned his laser sword and severed the man's arms in the blink of an eye before kicking him back into the wall. Now Fiona was horrified. Killing children? This... this kind of action... this was something that Jack would do.

"You son of a bitch! YOU SON OF A BITCH! First my wife, then my children and other men's children? You -"

"Are dead?" Rhys finished before chuckling hollowly. "Ha. You're lucky if you get out of here alive. Now tell me what my friend wants to know and we'll see what happens."

"Rhys... I don't care about the info that bad. This..." Fiona started, but Rhys cut her off.

"Killing children? You think that's bad? Ha! If I hadn't been wearing a shield, I would've been dead. Children on these planets are just as bad as the adults. Therefore they get no mercy from me. You see, I believe in a philosophy called Lex Talionis. It's the philosophy that retaliation for a punishment should correspond in degree to the offense of the wrongdoer. Regardless of age, sex, whatever. It would do you well to remember that. I thought I wouldn't say this, but you're too soft Fiona," Rhys said, approaching her and grabbing her arms to hold her where she stood. "I thought Hyperion were the good guys before I went to Pandora. That quickly crumbled when I actually lived with the madman himself. Then I thought they were bad. Now that I'm starting to think like this, I see it now. There is no good or bad. No innocent or guilty. There is only the merciful and the merciless. The alive and the dead. There is no 'innocent children' in that description. So guess what? I choose to be merciless. I choose to be alive."

"But killing children-" Rhys gave her a swift slap with his human hand and he stared directly into her eyes with a hard look. She was shocked, but then when she moved to slap him back, he grabbed her hand gently before grabbing his Masher from her hand.

"Let me tell you something," he said before shooting the man in the kneecaps to ensure he wouldn't dare move a muscle. And Rhys had put the assault rifle far enough where if any of them did try to go for it, he'd notice.

"I'm sorry for slapping you, but this is something I have to get you to pay attention to. There may be a moment that a child may try to kill you. And if it comes down to you or the child, you're gonna have to choose. And I'd prefer..." Rhys said, moving a strand of hair out of her face and placing the Masher back in her hand. "...if you lived. You don't have to learn this lesson now. I'll take care of it for you. But at one point, I expect you to get it down."

"You're a sick bastard," the man said.

"There's a difference between being sick and twisted. Raping a child for years at a time is sick. In fact, it's deplorable and loathsome. Killing a child for no reason is sick. Killing a child for trying to kill you deliberately? That lies more on the twisted and callous side. At least by society's standards of morality. If you can believe they had any in the first place," Rhys said with a hollow chuckle. "Sure I could let you go, but I'd rather not end up like Macbeth."

"Who?" Fiona asked.

"He was a man who killed his king to gain the title. Eventually, the king's sons came back to kill him. Why would I want to take that risk? Truth is, I don't. But... I'd say you'd have to be the next upcoming of Zer0 to kill me, which is very unlikely on a planet like this. So, I'm going to lay the situation out on the table for you," Rhys said, pointing his gun at the child's right leg. "My friend is going to ask what she wants to know again. If she asks and you refuse, I'm going to shoot your child in the leg. The corrosion will spread far easier on his immature bones than yours will. He will feel everything as the acid spreads and melts his bones. Then it seeps into the muscle system, making movement practically impossible. Then he'll watch and feel as his liquidized bones seep out of the hole in his body. And I can always cut more wounds to make him spurt out liquidized bone like a fountain. Ooh. Sounds pretty agonizing, doesn't it?"

"Fuck you," the man said, making Rhys decide to grab the child's foot with his metal hand and tightened his grip. A gradual crunch, like you were crunching a bag of chips echoed throughout the room. Only much more severe. Fiona cringed at the sight, but after looking at it a little while longer, she relaxed. Like she was... getting used to hearing it and seeing it. That unnerved her a bit. Her morals were now becoming thinner and thinner. But Rhys' seemed to just be completely gone already.

The child yelled from the pain of his foot breaking and the man cringed. Rhys kept his cold eyes on the man the entire time, his face only blinking. Not a twitch, a flinch, or anything. Then again, why would he at this point? Causing pain and death was now easy for him. The ex-Hyperion was now a true Pandoran.

"This only the beginning," Rhys said before getting in front of the man's face. "You want to refuse your support? That's fine. I'll just torture your child until he die. I'm going to be sure to make it slow too. First it'll be broken bones. Then it'll escalate to electrical torture, body mutilation, severed limbs. Get my point?" The man grunted in frustration, but he seemed to be struggling with deciding which slightly pleased Rhys. But this wasn't moving along fast enough for Rhys, so he decided to give him more incentive to want to tell Fiona what she wanted. He kneeled down close to the child, directly next to his ear.

"Your father doesn't seem to be cooperating. When you die, blame your father for the reason you die painfully when it could've been over quickly," Rhys said before twisting the child's leg with his metal hand. Not only could you hear the bones break, you could _feel_ it. Just every little thing snap. You could just hear rapid snaps; Like Rhys had set off firecrackers, only the popping was not quite as ear popping, but even more cringy. Yet Fiona only blinked at the sound. As she watched the child's face contort in pain, she couldn't help but feel slightly guilty, yet... she couldn't stop herself from imagining that this child was the reason she lost her best friend. Then, without even her influencing it, that image quickly changed to Sasha. Then Vaughn. Then Loader Bot. And after thinking about that, as quickly as the guilt had come, it was gone.

 _"If anyone dares wrong you, make sure they don't mess with you again. Because if you do, it'll be twice as worse the next time,"_ Fiona remembered Felix tell her and Sasha. That lesson was no different here. She just didn't see it.

"Ok, ok! I'll tell you!" the man yelled desperately. Rhys pointed at Fiona before gesturing to the man.

"He's all yours," Rhys said before turning to the man. "Don't leave anything out. If you do, I will know. You will not insult her parents. You will remain neutral in your story. For every rule you break, a penalty is involved. Only it won't be you who will suffer for it." Rhys found himself snapping a lot quicker when things come to light. But rather, he'd like to think of it as common sense. Because he was starting to learn a lot of things that he felt were necessary to know and do. To your enemies, there was no forgiveness. No mercy. You're only giving them an opportunity to fuck you over. And that wouldn't happen to them. Not as long as Rhys was around. He wouldn't let them.

"Fine. I suppose I ought to start as to who your parents were. They were known as Michael and Sharon Evans, so there's your last name if you were ever curious," the man said, making Fiona's thoughts immediately race. When you were a con woman, you didn't have a last name. You were "just Fiona." She and Sasha didn't even know her own last name, which made the rule easy for the both of them to learn. Now that she knew her last name, she felt as if she got a piece of her identity back.

"Your father, like you were, was a con artist. Not only was he a con artist. He was the best of the best. He always knew a way to get you out of your money. He didn't get satisfaction from simply nabbing your wallet. That was a last resort if they were too smart to be conned. He loved for you to give him your money. He's made billions from successful cons. I'm sure that's where you got your desire to become a con artist from," the man explained.

"I become a con artist to survive. Not cause I wanted to be," Fiona said.

"And when did you first start lifting wallets?" the man asked.

"Since I was six," Fiona said, her frown getting deeper as she talked.

"Who do you think taught you how to lift wallets?" the man asked. Fiona searched her brain for the time she first lifted a wallet off someone. But she got nothing but a black, murky spot of her brain. For the life of her, she couldn't remember how she knew how to rob people of their wallets.

"Anyway, your mother... we call her The Death Machine for good reason," the man said, making Fiona and Rhys raise their eyebrows. "I believe she was easily one of the deadliest mercenaries of the time. She never messed up. Never missed an opportunity to complete her objectives, which were almost always assassinations. She was far from a lightweight. A master of combat, stealth, and sharpshooting. A paragon of strategy, quick thinking, and conception. Though her husband surpassed her in all of those areas except combat. Though they went about their particular skills differently, they complimented each other. They were the best partners. They hardly ever did jobs without the other close by," the man explained.

"Why were they called Yin and Yang?" Fiona asked.

"Yin represents a force of light, positivity, and masculinity. That was your father. He'd take all of your money and bleed you dry, but he wouldn't kill you. Your mother however, was the complete opposite when it came to her enemies. She was dark, negative, and of course, feminine. She was far from afraid to take your life. That was how she liked it. She wanted no loose ends. Kind of like him," the man said, pointing to Rhys who simply gave off a 'hmm' sound.

"It's not public known about what happened to you, but Atlas knew where your parents were and they closed in on you to kill you after your parents caused them much grief. Wherever they dropped you off obviously kept you safe enough so that Atlas didn't get to you," the man said.

Fiona's eyes widened. Her parents dropping her on Pandora actually saved her life. Which was ironic when you think about the reputation Pandora has for dying within minutes upon getting on the surface.

"What happened to them?" she asked.

"Atlas claims that they had gotten rid of them, but I thought they were full of shit. There's a reason your mother was called the 'The Death Machine,' and your father 'The Serpent's Tongue.' They earned those names cause whatever your mother couldn't fight them out of, your father could think their way out. It's hard to kill people like that. Even if you were the most powerful corporation of the time," the man said.

"Atlas will rise again," Rhys suddenly said, standing up straight. The man snorted.

"What makes you think so?" he asked.

"Because I own it. And I'll make great lengths to get it to rise to power. I promise you that," Rhys said before turning to Fiona. "Will you finish them, or will I?"

Fiona bit her lip. She knew that Rhys was planning on killing them after they got the info she needed, but she still had her doubts about going this far.

"I don't know. I feel like we shouldn't," Fiona said.

"Well, I do. Like I said, if you have problems with it, I'll do it. But you'll have to learn eventually. Now is better than later, cause if you wait until later, it'll just be harder. So what's it gonna be?" Rhys asked before raising a finger. "Ah, how about this. You get to pick which one you kill. The child or this piece of shit."

"Piece of shit? Ha! That's the pot calling the kettle black," the man said.

"You? You're nothing. You attempted to kill two people that meant no harm to you. That's being a piece of shit. Me? I like to think myself as a dark messiah. Cause I spare no mercy to pieces of shit like you. And to think I was more of the pacifist type before, but this universe..." Rhys said, his tone getting low and growly as he lowered himself down to his father's level. "...it changed me. You see, I didn't deserve to happened to me as a child. I was as average as you could get. After that happened, I turned into more of a docile little _dog."_ Rhys spat out the word with disgust and Fiona noted that he was reaching a place of self-loathing like he had done many times before. "Not anymore. Because my eyes and my body has been opened to other possibilities. At the time, I wondered why Athena enjoyed her kills. Now I know. There's just something so satisfying about watching them draw their last breath. About watching them lay still. Watching them twitch, convulse, roll around from pain on the ground, never to be a problem to anyone again."

A dark smile had come to Rhys' face and Fiona saw it more and more as the days went on. That kind of smile would scare her if it was pointed at her. It just looked so... sadistic and evil. Almost unearthly. Even Athena didn't look _that_ terrifying. She was dispassionate; Rhys was a sadist. She feel like he had earned the title. That's what this was. Pure sadism. To him, this was fun. It was sport. To him, they deserved it. Regardless whether he lived or died. But at least he was the most honorable of the sadists. Most kill anyone they can get their hands on. They don't even have an agenda. They just kill whoever's convenient. But at Rhys did it to people who tried to hurt him or his friends. Rhys was right about no one being good or bad. Not even Rhys, and he used to be one of the kindest people she knew. Now... he was a sadist. She was friends with a sadist. But she wasn't ashamed of it. She cared for him. And she didn't care what anyone else thought of it.

"So... pick your poison Miss Fiona," Rhys suddenly said, snapping her out of her thoughts. He had a wide smile on his face as she looked between the two. As she looked at the child, she saw the childlike innocence, but deep down she knew that the intent he had was far from innocent. She steeled her nerves.

"The child," Fiona said, spinning Rhys' Masher in her index finger. She noticed Rhys looked slightly surprised, but happy, she kidded you not, _happy_ about her decision to kill the child. It was like he was watching his own child take their first steps. Happiness and pride shone in this man's face.

"You first milady," Rhys said in a cliche knight voice, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling even as she eyed the bloody and broken child. She aimed her revolver at his head and pulled the trigger, a hole almost twice the size of a golf ball was blasted through his head. The sight of the child dead just five minutes ago would've horrified her. Now she just didn't care.

"No!" the man yelled before angrily turning to Rhys, who simply smiled.

"You knew this was coming," he said before grabbing the man by his throat with his human hand and, with all of the force he had in him, punched straight through the man's head like a rock through glass. His serious form of combat was all about his legs, but he loved to get down and dirty with his fists. It was far easier to get through his skull than he originally thought. When he eased his hand out of his brain, he could feel the stickiness of it try to keep his arm in place, but it only took a little bit of effort to get free. Rhys faced Fiona before he idly tried to shake some of the stuff of his metal arm.

"Aw, I got all of his brain on my arm," Rhys said idly, trying to shake it off.

"Use one of their shirts or something. Whatever gets us out of here faster," Fiona said.

Rhys opened one of the closet doors to the suite we were in and saw a bunch of towels in there. He grabbed it and tried to wipe it off, but his angle wasn't the best.

"Can you help me with this?" Rhys asked before grabbing another clean towel. She made a disgusted face.

"Why do I have to help you clean up your messes?" she asked.

"Cause you said you wanted to get out of here as fast as possible, and I can't get my arm clean all of the way. Come on, I got this side. You get the other," Rhys said, tossing her the towel. She grimaced as she walked over to Rhys. She took one look at the brain, tissue, blood, and chunks on Rhys' arms and gagged. The smell did not help.

"Ugh. How are you not bothered by this?" Fiona asked, starting to wipe the towel on Rhys' arm. The squishing sounds in made when she made contact with the more solid parts of the man's head made her cringe.

"I dunno. I just quickly got used to it. You'll find that when you think about the time you were raped, there's not much that can bother you," Rhys said solemnly. Fiona nodded tightly. Regardless of what she thought at the moment, Rhys was still haunted. It's why wanted Fiona to tell Sasha about that. Cause Rhys had the fear that if he told her, he would completely break down. And she didn't say she could blame him.

Fiona placed the towel she had, and wrapped her section of it completely before forcefully dragging the towel down his arm, trying to wipe all of the stuff of it.

"I can't wait until we get back to Pandora," Fiona said as she tried to wipe the gore off Rhys' arm and _not_ throw up in the process.

"Me too. I miss the others. Well, most of them," Rhys said.

"Most?" Fiona questioned.

"In case you forgot, me and Athena aren't necessarily on the best of terms. We're more allies than we are friends," Rhys reminded her. Fiona remembered the argument they had during the time they tried to open the Vault of the Traveler, and she couldn't really tell who was angrier at the time.

"Yeah. Now I remember. But she's not all bad," Fiona said.

"That's cause you like her and vice versa. We don't get along because Athena doesn't trust me nowhere near as much as she trusts you all. Therefore, I don't trust her as much as she trusts you all. When that changes, it'll be different," Rhys said.

"Suppose that makes sense," Fiona said, wiping the rest of the crap off his arm and throwing the towel as far as possible away from her.

"Do you know of anything else that's more fair, cause I am all out of ideas," Rhys said idly before tossing the towel in a corner.

"Ready to leave?" Fiona asked him.

"Yeah. Wish we could just teleport back to Pandora. It would make not having to find a shuttle so much easier," Rhys said, before growling in frustration. "Why'd we have to open that stupid box? We didn't even get anything out of it!"

Fiona frowned before thinking about something. It was called the Vault of the Traveler, the Vault creature could teleport, and the purple energy they were hit with teleported them. Maybe...

"I just got a crazy idea," Fiona said, raising her hand.

"Shoot. There are no bad ideas right now," Rhys said.

"Ok. Well, it was called the Vault of the Traveler, the Vault Monster could teleport, and the box we opened teleported us..." Fiona trailed.

"Where are you going with this?" Rhys asked.

"Because we opened that box, does that mean that... we can teleport as well?" Fiona asked. Rhys frowned. He really couldn't believe that they were that lucky to get the power of teleportation, but hell. Rhys was willing to try it.

"If that's the power this Vault gave us, then I'd say our time here was worth it," he said.

"Let's try it. We both think about traveling the same place. In this case, the remains of the Helios space station on Pandora. And I feel as if we should both be holding hands while doing so. We opened the chest together. I feel as if we don't keep contact, we might not teleport at all," Fiona said.

"Yeah, but if this does work, we might not wanna show up in this crap," Rhys said, gesturing to his winter clothing. "Hell, I'm already hot enough from the fighting and the heat in this place."

"And if we don't teleport?" Fiona asked. Rhys rubbed the back of his head.

"Well... then we'll just put the clothes back on... whatever. I'm tired of burning up," Rhys said, removing his gloves. Fiona rolled her eyes, but followed his lead. She had to admit she was burning up as well, but she didn't like wasting time. For her, time was money. Or in this case, escape.

"Almost ready?" Rhys asked as he put his last piece of clothing in his ECHO.

"Yeah," Fiona said she removed her winter jacket and put the items in her ECHO. She unconsciously smiled as she put her hat back on her head. For her, this hat was part of her. Almost like it was part of her head. And to be honest, she liked the black one better.

Once she finished loading all of her stuff in her ECHO, Rhys held out his arm for her to grab. She took ahold of it and they both closed their eyes, hoping that this would work. Fiona unconsciously tightened her grip on Rhys' hand, hoping that her very weird theory would work.

 _"The remains of Helios on Pandora,"_ they both thought at the same time. Then a a flash of purple surrounded them them and they were gone.

When they reappeared, they were surprised to find themselves still together, standing, completely conscious, and... on Pandora. They were also surprised to see that everyone who was with them when they went on the journey for the Vault of the Traveler. Zer0, Athena, Janey, Loader Bot, Vaughn, Sasha, Yvette, Cassius. Even August was here. But Rhys and Fiona teleported into a hallway, and the others didn't notice the bright purple light.

Rhys' eyes wandered to Sasha and his eyes immediately lit up with an intense joy. Fiona saw where he was looking that made him look like that, and she smiled. She knew Rhys really cared for her sister. From the moment he laid eyes on her, he immediately looked happy. For Rhys, this was someone amazing to him.

"You really care for her, don't you?" Fiona asked.

"Yes. I do," Rhys said as he walked towards the room they were in. As he got closer, he could catch traces of the conversation they were having.

"Have you found anything?" he heard Sasha ask.

"Nothing. They don't seem to be anywhere nearby. I believe whatever that Vault did took them off Pandora," Athena said.

"That's the most likely thing that happened," Loader Bot said.

"That's exactly what it did," Rhys said as he walked in the room before crossing his arms. "Our trip wasn't exactly very fun, either." Rhys could barely finish his sentence before Sasha was immediately hugging him.

"I"m so glad you're back. But where's Fiona?" Sasha asked. Rhys gestured to the hallway he came out of before Fiona walked out with a smile on her face.

"We know we've got a lot of explaining to do, but first things first. Can we get a warm welcome back?" Fiona said with a smile.

As if everyone was thinking on a hive mind besides August, everyone converged in the middle for a group hug. Even Athena joined in, albeit somewhat hesitantly. For Rhys and Fiona both, it felt good to be home with their friends again.

* * *

A/N: Power of teleportation from opening that box? That is definitely a possibility. And as you can see, it's one I'm going to be exploiting for the rest of this story. There will be a 'practice with new found powers to get better hang of them' scene, but that's not until later. Next time, it's all about getting comfortable with everyone again. And for Sasha to learn about Rhys' terrible past. I hope to catch you all next time.


	14. Chapter 14 - From Heat to Horror

A/N: EXTREME warning on this chapter. Tread carefully, and be prepared for anything this chapter. Trust me, if you aren't, you might be in for a rude awakening.

* * *

"Where the hell were you two?" Sasha asked.

"Juno," Rhys said, taking a seat in the room.

"You ended up in a frozen wasteland?" Athena questioned.

"I couldn't imagine it was much better than Elpis at times," Janey said.

"We had to sleep in a cave. So unless that's what it was like, then you've got a one up on us," Fiona said.

"It wasn't too much better, but how'd you not freeze to death? I mean, you were barely on Juno for a Pandoran day, but you'd freeze to death for how long you were gone," Janey said.

"We managed to get ahold of some winter clothes. We had to walk through the snow for over an hour, but we managed to get to a town for some shelter. Apparently, my father runs the town," Rhys said, his face in a deep frown. Fiona saw that Vaughn's eyes widened a considerable amount, and she couldn't blame him. Rhys told her that he was the only one who knew what happened to Rhys. That, and the people who were involved in his case when justice was finally served, but they had likely forgotten about it or they were dead.

"Your father? Really?" Sasha questioned. "What was it like meeting him again?"

"Made me sick to my stomach. I fucking hate the bastard," Rhys said, clenching his metal fist. Rhys' anger seemed to catch everyone except for Vaughn off guard, but their reactions were different.

"Why?" Sasha asked.

"He was a piece of shit. Let's just leave it at that," Rhys said simply.

"Alright, but... what you'd do after that?" Sasha asked.

"There was a Snow Smasher machine that Rhys repaired and hacked. Managed to get to a better town and then the interesting part came," Fiona said with a small smirk. Rhys smiled at the memory himself. The kills that day were so satisfying.

"Interesting part?" Athena questioned.

"We got attacked by all of the staff in the hotel we visited. We had to kill everyone in there," Fiona told her.

"Wow. They obviously had nothing to lose," Vaughn said.

"Oh, you're quite wrong about that. They had children," Rhys said evenly. Even Athena's eyes widened at this bit of information. That was a step that they were not expecting.

"You mean, you..."

"Killed them all? Yes. Yes we did. Apparently, their children were trained a little with guns as well, but the fact that they were kids made it all the easier to use them to our advantage," Rhys said, crossing his arms and putting his right foot over his left leg.

"What do you mean by that?" Sasha asked, her face get more and more worried as they talked.

"We used the child we didn't kill to get information. About our parents," Fiona said as she looked directly at Sasha, whose eyes widened considerably.

"Just how many people on that planet were connected to you both in some type of way?" Athena questioned.

"We don't know in the slightest. Though I preferred if my parents were not there in the first place. Brings up a lot of bad memories," Rhys said, looking away from the crowd.

"Apparently, our dad was a notorious conman, and our mother was an expert assassin. Funny how things work out," Fiona said, as a way to direct the attention off Rhys' statement about his parents.

"Why'd they drop us on Pandora?" Sasha asked.

"Atlas was after them, and they were catching on quick. Pandora was the place that we got dropped off at to help us. Our dad was the reason we even knew how to pickpocket in the first place," Fiona said, making her glance at Rhys. "Kind of sucks you have their name now."

"I'll certainly do a lot better with it than the previous owners. I guarantee you that much," Rhys said with a nod. The statement did not miss Athena, and she immediately stood to her feet.

"Hold on. Fiona, what did you mean he has their name?" she questioned.

"I own Atlas now. Been official for a while now," Rhys said, his shoulders tensing up slightly. He didn't know how the woman was going to react to this piece of news when he presented to her.

"So... you mean to tell me you own the company that tricked me into murdering my own sister?" Athena said, her tone slightly angry and taking a step towards him. Janey grabbed her girlfriend's arm and Fiona automatically intervened.

"Athena, you know that was an Atlas run by a shittier leader. Rhys is the not the same," she assured her. Rhys stood to his feet and straightened the front of his clothes before walking closer to Athena in a cordial way, but he was ready to draw his stun baton at a moment's notice if it came to blows.

"I assure you. You are one of my allies. I don't turn my back on them, nor would I try to wrong them in any way. I'm on your side," Rhys assured her sincerely.

"Athena, calm down. You're overreacting," Janey said, trying to calm her girlfriend, but even that wasn't helping much.

"How do I know that you won't go for Janey if I so much as piss you off when you get off the ground?" Athena said with anger in her voice.

"You're comparing me to the old representatives of Atlas. I told you. That's not me," Rhys said calmly. "Whether you approve or not, this company is happening."

"The hell it is. I'm not going to let it," Athena said.

"The hell you are. I don't want to make us enemies, but if I have to ship you off the planet to get you out of my way, I will," Rhys said firmly. Athena took a step forward, and it took both Janey and Fiona to step in front of her to stop her from advancing on Rhys. But Rhys was ready. He was willing to beat her into unconsciousness if necessary.

"See! Right there! I knew you would threaten me. How much longer before you do it to Fiona or your girlfriend?!" Athena growled. Rhys moved so fast, that only Zer0 had the speed and reflexes to get in front of Rhys before he advanced on Athena. But Rhys was coming hard. But the assassin was one for weaponry, not brawn. And Rhys was a lot muscular now than when Zer0 had first met him. The assassin's feet were dragging as he held Rhys' chest before August, Vaughn, and Cassius stepped in to help Zer0. Even with all of those people, they struggled to keep Rhys in place.

"Don't you fucking dare go there! I'd easily give my life for them! How _fucking_ dare you!" Rhys spat at Athena as he tried to struggle past his friends. He felt the anger swell up in him like an erupting volcano. He was a lot quicker to anger and violence these days, but as of now, he didn't mind wringing Athena's neck until he felt the bones and muscle break and twist like it was chips and taffy.

Then Rhys felt a calming hand pull him backwards and he turned to see it was Sasha. The sight of her relaxed his nerves and he was pulled out of the grip of the four men as Sasha led him away. He could hear Athena grunting to get past the people holding her back, and his metal fist clenched its fingers in a grip firm enough to break bones, but he let Sasha lead him away from the very thing making him angry.

"That was not pretty," Sasha said as she lead him down the hallway.

"I half want to go back and wring her neck," Rhys said, his tone rough.

"Restrain yourself. Besides, it'll do no one any good if you kill her," Sasha said.

"I'd be saved a lot of headaches," Rhys said idly.

"Still not worth it. Besides, I got something else to take your mind off things," Sasha said, making Rhys raise an eyebrow.

"And what's that?" he asked as she lead him inside of a room that survived the crash. It was plenty far away from the others too. For a space station that crashed to the ground at a fast speed, it was surprisingly intact. But there was a lot more to the station than this, so he supposed it could go both ways.

Sasha led him to a bed to sit on before she patted his hand softly.

"Wait here. I got a little something to show you," she said, exiting through a door. Rhys got a puzzled look on his face as she exited through the door and closed it behind her. Sasha leaned on the door she closed, her heart racing and her eyes up facing the ceiling.

 _"Well, now's as good a time as any. Let's see if this works,"_ Sasha thought as she walked towards an ECHO she had stashed in a corner. She went red as she summoned the racy piece of lingerie that was stored in it. She couldn't even believe that she bought this. She definitely had to do a bit of searching on the ECHOnet for this piece of clothing. If you could even call it that. But hopefully after tonight, it would all be worth it.

She changed quicker than she thought when it was all said and done. Sasha looked at her body and was a little hesitant about doing this. She didn't necessarily have great 'assets,' to put it lightly. She didn't care about it for a while, but now she was pretty self-conscious about it. She was afraid of it not being enough. Because, at first Rhys was a bit on the out of shape still side when she first met him. Now from all of the training and combat practice he tended to do, he was pretty muscular. Not necessarily extreme body builder muscular, but he had a six pack on him along with his normal arm not being as thick as Athena's, but still pretty thick and VERY firm. It gave her shivers down her back just remembering the embrace he held her in. To feel safe and protected...

She had to shake her head to snap out of it. She could already feel tingles travel through her pussy, and they hadn't even started yet. She could only hope this was good enough to garner Rhys' attention to the point where he wouldn't bail on her again. Hopefully they would never have that problem again. With a deep breath and rising and falling of the shoulders, she opened the door that lead back to the room. First she would have to test how much her look had on him.

When she walked out, Rhys immediately noticed the fact that she was wearing such enticing clothing. But she didn't even face him when she walked out. She turned towards the door and Rhys' eyes followed her to it. He tried to open his mouth, but found that his tongue was stuck and his lips dry. He felt completely speechless at her appearance.

Sasha locked the door before turning back to gauge the reaction she got from him. She looked at every little detail. For one, she could see that his eyes were wide with surprise and swimming with desire at the same time. His mouth was open slightly and he kept retracting his lips into his mouth as if not sure what to do. Then she looked down at the front of his pants, and saw that, like she had hoped, a tent was indeed risen right there. Since he seemed to be unable to proceed, she'd start.

"You're drooling," Sasha said, blushing slightly. She still felt a bit self-conscious, but definitely more confident in proceeding.

"Am I?" Rhys questioned, placing his human hand under his mouth to check. Sasha laughed lightly. Rhys didn't seem to be surprised that he might have been drooling, which increased her confidence a little more.

"Not literally, you dork. Though that says a lot," Sasha said with a small smile.

"What's this all about?" Rhys asked, pointing to the lingerie.

"Well, this I bought for an occasion where I felt like it was needed. I'd say now is definitely the time. I didn't know whether you and Fiona were alive. So..." Sasha slowly approached Rhys and softly pushed him down on the bed before leaning over him with both of her hands on either side of him. Rhys didn't have to guess where she was going with this. "...I want us to go all the way."

"But-" Sasha instantly silenced him.

"Listen to me Rhys. I know you won't tell me why you seem to shy away when I try to take things a step further. Whether it's from lack of experience, I don't care. I'm going to help you through this. So I'm not going to stop when I start. Try to relax," Sasha said before she started kissing Rhys on the neck. His head leaned back from the pleasure of her lips on his neck and Rhys gripped the sheets that they were laying on, trying to hold back a moan.

"Does it make you feel good baby?" Sasha said, her seductive tone muffed in his neck. Rhys groaned in pleasure from her tone and her use of the word 'baby.' She didn't use it often.

His pants felt especially tight now as if they weren't tight enough when she came out in such sexy wear. Then she felt her hands go for the clothes he was wearing. Instead of insisting she get off him, he let her continue. He would try and push his hesitancy as far as it would go. He wanted so badly to make her feel good.

She scrambled to get his jacket off and when she reached for the bottom of his shirt, she could hear his breaths getting shorter. But he didn't stop her. That meant he was really trying this time.

Rhys sat up and made it easier for her to get his shirt off and they threw into a corner before Rhys switched their positions.

Sasha moaned out loud at the sight of Rhys on top of her, his hair disheveled, his face breathless, but swimming with limitless desire. Sasha may have been a very commanding woman, but no one knew that her biggest desire was to be dominated. Not like any of the bondage rape fantasies or anything like that. No, she got so turned on when the man took charge. She wanted Rhys to hold her where she lay. She wanted him to lean down next to her ear and say in a passionate voice, "I'll take it from here."

What she wouldn't give for him to rip of the bra she was wearing and suck and nibble on her nipples while sticking a finger in her gradually wetting snatch, teasing her. Messing with her until she was forced to arch her back adjust to the pleasure better. Then when she was close to orgasm, he'd move his finger out and force her to taste her own juices.

"Tell me what you want," Rhys said in an erotic tone. She grabbed him by the butt and pulled his closed off hard on closer to her sensitive pussy, which was also blocked by clothing while digging her nails in. It might have hurt slightly, but she knew Rhys didn't mind.

"I want you to dominate me. I want you to tease me. Play with me," Sasha responded in a slow, horny tone. Rhys grabbed her right breast underneath the bra while pinching the nipples through the fabric of the bra, making Sasha moan loudly. She couldn't imagine what his touch would feel like when he finally got into this, but it was way better than she imagined. Then she suddenly felt the bra being ripped off.

"I'm done with that," Rhys said before his mouth attacked her left nipple, lightly nibbling and swirling his tongue around it.

"Rhys!" she moaned loudly while sticking her hand down her panties and firmly clapped her hand to her dripping clit. It took all the self control she had not to release herself because Rhys was making this tortuously slow. But she couldn't help but get even more turned on by it.

Rhys' thoughts were racing as he continued. He felt as if he had done this plenty of times. He knew exactly where to touch, where to lick, bite, how much do so, and so on. His pants felt like a torture contraption for his cock, but he felt as if he had to hold it back.

Then Rhys grabbed her wrist that was down in her panties and moved it up and down. Sasha let out a squeal she didn't even know she was capable of. He was making her rub herself to an orgasm. And he _still_ didn't stop his process on her nipple. Then she felt his hand go lower and adjust one of her fingers to the side to hit a sweet spot she didn't even know she had. Or she thought she could reach.

Then she felt her orgasm come and sprayed everywhere in her panties. It almost felt like the whole things was dipped in water from how wet it felt. But she was short of breath, at her highest peak of pleasure, and she didn't give a single fuck.

"Make me..." Sasha had to stop cause she was short of breath, but continued. "Make me taste myself. I want you to make me." Rhys grinned before forcing her hand out of her panties, noticing that some of her cum got on his hands. But he pulled down her panties and forced his blocked dick against her bare snatch and she had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from squealing out loudly where everyone could hear them. Then she felt her mouth being opened by one hand and inserted with the other.

Sasha moaned when the substance came into contact with her tongue. It was wet and sticky, but it tasted like something akin to melted chocolate, which made her greedily go for her other fingers. Rhys smiled. He couldn't believe how horny she got after tasting her own cum. The desire and fetishes on this woman only heightened his own desire to high lengths. He loved every minute of it.

Then Rhys removed her hand out of her mouth before sticking his tongue inside her mouth and wandering. Sasha felt his tongue make contact with some of the unswallowed cum and stick it back in his own mouth, making her deepen the kiss out of fiery passion. He smiled at the taste of it. She tasted like melted chocolate.

"Enjoying yourself so far?" Rhys said with a wide grin.

"Not yet. I think I've tortured you long enough," Sasha said before she quickly stuck her hand down Rhys' pants and grabbing ahold of Rhys' dick. With a jolt, Rhys suddenly backed up out of Sasha's grip, but Sasha's grip was tight enough to painfully jerk his penis, which caused him to groan painfully and immediately try and stand up, but Sasha was apparently quicker than Rhys could've ever thought and grabbed him by his shoulder and pulled him back towards her before having him look directly in her eyes.

"I'm not letting you run away from this," Sasha said, damn near aggressively. Rhys didn't what happened, but the next time he blinked, instead of the brown skinned beauty being on top of him, it was a very unpleasant presence.

 _"What, you're thinking you're running away from this, pretty boy?"_ the man said, grabbing Rhys by his neck.

"No. Get off me," Rhys said, struggling against Sasha's grip. She immediately released him as she didn't expect this much resistance from the situation, but Rhys fell to the ground and continued to struggle against nothing.

"Rhys?" she asked in a concerned tone. Sasha moved quickly to gather her shirt and pants, not bothering to put on the discarded lingerie in the corner and going over next to his body. But Rhys was still squirming.

 _"Hardly. Don't you know by now? You're_ mine. _Your parents don't care about you or they wouldn't have gotten you into the situation in the first place. You're here to please me. You do what I command,"_ the man said, taking a good hard bite into Rhys shoulder, making him cry out in pain. _"Shut up little whore. You're my little whore. You exist to please me."_

"OFF ME!" Rhys bellowed, still squirming. Sasha officially got worried at Rhys' exclamation and decided on going to get help. It didn't seem anything she could say would be able to help his situation. But Rhys felt his head get slammed into the ground with fury, causing him to see stars in no time at all. Then he felt a rough hand stroke down the injured part of his head with a rough palm.

 _"Shh. Just enjoy it. I'm giving you a present,"_ the man said with a dark gentleness.

"I DON'T WANT IT!" Rhys screamed.

 _"You don't have a choice,"_ the man said before roughing turning Rhys over on his stomach. With a rough hand, the man loosened up the belt to Rhys' pants before wrapping the belt around Rhys' neck and firmly tightening it. Not enough to choke him, but enough to keep his breath short. Rhys could feel his Adam's Apple pressing up against the rough leather and it felt far from good. Then Rhys could feel his pants being pulled down, which caused him to erratically turn in every direction to avoid what was to come. But Rhys' neck was forced up with a sharp pull from the belt. Then he felt the hot breath of the man on his ear.

 _"Behave. Behave and I may just be nice,"_ the man said, but Rhys didn't believe him and kept struggling. The man used his other hand to grab Rhys by the hair and smacked his head against the ground hard several times before pulling the belt up high and continuing pull Rhys' pants down until they were all the way off. The man then went for his belt and pulled down his pants just enough for his erect penis to be freed from his pants. He had a sadistic grin on his face when he heard Rhys start to sob.

"Please... please... I'm begging you..." he begged, but the man simply pulled up on the belt more.

 _"You're gonna take your present like a good little whore. You're gonna take this punishing. Cause you know you deserve it don't you, you filthy little child whore?"_ the man said before guiding his penis with his free hand straight into Rhys' anus, who screamed.

"GET IT OUT! GET OUT! OUT! OUT!" Rhys screamed, but only had his face forced to the ground for his troubles. The man groaned before beginning to thrust in and out.

 _"Man, you feel good, you little whore. You love this. You know you love it,"_ the man said, continuing to thrust in and out while Rhys cried on the ground he laid on. He felt the man's penis go in and out roughly, causing severe pain. Rhys tightened his hands to the point where they were pale as he laid on the ground.

"Mom... Dad..." he said, desperate for his mother or his father to make it all better. To get rid of this man and make it all better for him. But he didn't see a hope of getting out of this in sight.

 _"I am your daddy now. Come on. Say my name. Moan it. Live it,"_ the man said, speeding up his thrusts. Rhys whimpered, but refused to speak and felt the belt tighten on his neck before he heard the man growl again.

 _"Say it. Who's your daddy?"_ the man said, beginning to thrust again. Rhys choked on his sobs, trying his best get it together.

"Y-y-you," Rhys stammered out through his sobs.

 _"Who's your daddy?"_ the man repeated, beginning to thrust again.

"Y-you," Rhys repeated.

 _"That's right. You're damn right I'm your daddy. Now I know you like this. Tell me you like it, little whore. Tell me you like it,"_ the man said.

"I-I like it," Rhys stammered.

 _"I don't think you mean it. Repeat after me and say it like you mean it. I love big daddy's cock in my filthy whore ass,"_ the man said, speeding up his thrusts.

"I love- big daddy's cock in my filthy whore ass," Rhys repeated.

 _"You didn't mean that one. I said say it like you mean it. Repeat it,"_ the man said.

"I love big daddy's cock in my filthy whore ass," Rhys repeated again, his mind stuck on the statement. Then Rhys just began repeating it over and over again unconsciously, his mind stuck on the statement and unable to stop.

 _"Good,"_ the man said silkily before taking his dick out of his anus and turned Rhys around to face him before jacking his dick off his front of Rhys' face, who turned away at the sight. _"Look at it before I make you suck it."_ Rhys started to sob again as he turned back around to face the man. The man had his head thrown back as he continued to jerk his dick in front of the child's face before he felt climax and his seed sprayed all over Rhys' face. He tried so desperately to keep his mouth closed so none would get in, which worked at least. The man groaned and then moved Rhys' head towards his dick, who didn't fight it.

 _"Clean it,"_ the man said once he put it in his mouth. Rhys was forced to move his head back and forth while in the real world, his heart was beating dangerously fast and he started to convulse. His body was dangerous close to some edge that Rhys wanted so desperately to propel himself off of.

 _"Let me preach one piece of advice to you kid,"_ the man said, putting his pants back on. _"Your parents are some of the biggest shitheads I've ever met considering they set you up for this. And this is coming from me. Once I break you enough to where you won't think about going against me, I'll make you work for Hyperion and say I did this so they'd have one loyal worker. And there's an easy pardon for child rape. Now, I want you to lay in my cum like a good little whore until I have need of you. Don't worry. You'll get cleaned and fed soon. Daddy'll return to take care of you."_

Rhys just laid there, in pain with his mind and body unable to move beyond a single function at a time. But his mind was solely on one thing.

"Why have you forsaken me? Do you not love me? What did I do?" Rhys cried out to the world. "What did I do dad? What did I do that was so bad that I deserved this? I'm sorry! Please, free me from this man. I'm begging you. If you have any love for me, help me. Please, _please_ help me. I will _never ever_ take you for granted ever again. Help me. Help me." The sad thing was that everyone heard it. Sasha had come back with the others a while ago.

The whole group stood over Rhys, stunned by the words he murmured in his fit. And incredibly saddened. They had never head the man sound so scared. So desperate. The final pleas of a child that were never heard or carried out.

Vaughn had tears in his eyes as he saw his friend reduced to... this. He thought and hoped that this could be wiped from existence. To the point where the both of them could forget about it. But that was not a scenario Vaughn could see happening. Not anymore. The monster that took Rhys' innocence is the reason why he's so disturbed now. Inner demons great enough to conquer the best of people.

Fiona clenched her fists and tried to hold back her own tears and anger to focus on the here and now situation. She lowered herself down to Rhys and put him in her embrace while holding him close to her chest. Tragedy had hit them once before, never as intense as this. She changed her regular language into one more soothing.

 _Même pendant les nuits les plus sombres, je serai ici._

 _Je sais que votre douleur, mais je ne comprends pas._

 _Mais je serai une épaule pour se pencher sur ou pour pleurer._

 _Je sais que votre cœur porte un lourd fardeau, mais je vais marcher sur la route avec vous._

 _Je serai toujours avec vous, mon amour._

 _Ensemble, nous allons vous aider à apprendre à guérir._

Fiona's words came out like honey to the ear, and Rhys' body slowly calmed as her words came out. Fiona knew a lot of languages, but before now, she never found a need to use them. Sasha joined her sister over near Rhys and wrapped her arms around him while softly stroking his cheek or not. Not a single word was spoken for a long time.

* * *

A/N: The pain. The torment. How it affects you for so long can prove self-destructive. Believe me. I could feel the emotion from this chapter while I was writing it. If you felt what I felt, then I delivered it well. Like I said. When I said things were going to get bad, I mean it. I'll see you all next time. By the way, I was up until two in the morning working on this.


	15. Chapter 15 - Inhibitions Released

A/N: Last chapter was very unpleasant to write. It's a closer insight as to what it was like reliving a memory like that. The pain, the feeling of hopelessness, the betrayal, and the repressed anger. It only gets uglier from that point on. As you will soon discover.

* * *

Sasha surveyed Rhys just above her intertwined fingers with tears trailing down her face and a heavy fear in her heart that he would started spasming again, his mind trapped in whatever nightmare that he was currently suffering from. She couldn't begin to understand what he had suffered. When they had arrived, she was on a loop as to why his parents left him for dead it seemed. Him literally begging for them to help, but getting no reply. No wonder Rhys hated them. She despised them too.

"You need to eat," Fiona said, walking through the room with two pieces of drakefruit.

"I'll eat when I feel like it," Sasha said dully, not turning away from Rhys, who was currently hugging his legs as if he was a child again. It was a pretty scary sight.

"Starving yourself is not helping him. In fact, I think you're only worrying him," Fiona said, sitting right next to her sister. Sasha sighed as she knew she was right and grabbed one of the pieces of fruit from her grasp. Fiona held the other piece of fruit out to Rhys.

"Rhys? You need to eat. It's drakefruit. You love drakefruit," Fiona said gently. Rhys looked up at her with a hesitant look on his face. His eyes widened in fear and he looked back down at the ground quickly. She put the drakefruit closer to him in a more insistent form, and he stretched a hesitant arm out towards it. Then the seconds that passed by seemed agonizingly long before Rhys took it from her grasp.

"T-Thank you. I just-" Fiona placed a calming hand to his cheek and rubbed it tenderly with her thumb, wiping a few tears in the process.

"It's ok," Fiona said in a low and gentle voice. Rhys slowly raised the drakefruit to his mouth and took a bite out of it. Fiona's heart broke to see the man like this. He seemed so lost and scared, forced to replay his nightmarish memories over and over and over again in his mind, an end nowhere in sight.

"This is my fault," Sasha said, the hand holding her drakefruit started to tremble. Fiona looked at her sister with a look of disbelief.

"What makes you think that?" she asked.

"I shouldn't have tried to get him to do something he wasn't ready for. I triggered something in him, and now I don't feel like I could get him to stop reliving it," Sasha said, choking on a sob in her own throat as she forced herself to look away from Rhys. Sasha wasn't much of a crier, so this kind of reaction was pretty significant.

"That's not your fault. It all comes down to what made him feel like this. That's where the blame lies. Not with you," Fiona said, before Sasha looked at her sister with tear stained eyes.

"Do you know what happened to him?" she asked. Fiona gave Sasha a solemn nod.

"When we saw his parents, he nearly killed them where they stood when he first saw them. Only now I regret not letting him continue. They deserved to die," Fiona said, clenching her fists tightly. Her blood boiled with a white hot rage. They may not have known about the rape, but it's not like they cared. Like they even gave a shit when they treated their own son like property. Something to be traded and redeemed to pay off. What she would give to wring their necks right now...

"Tell me," Sasha said firmly.

"Tell you what?" Fiona asked, her sister's voice snapping her back to reality. She just got attacked with a bunch of homicidal thoughts that she never knew she was capable of. Maybe she was taking a page out of Rhys' book.

"What happened to him? I mean, I know it involves his parents, but I don't know what it is," Sasha said.

"It's terrible," Fiona said, her tone unconsciously getting softer.

"Fi, I need to know. I can't feel as if I can help him if I don't know what's going on. I want him to stop feeling this way. I want him to feel happy. I want the cheerful, dorky, carefree Rhys back. No matter how much violence comes with him. Please. _Please_ tell me," Sasha said, clasping her hands together and shaking them up and down in a begging fashion. It crushed Fiona to see her sister like this.

"He wanted me to tell you anyway. He didn't feel like he could tell you himself without losing himself. But I have to tell you this much. You have to brace yourself, cause this is going to get heavy," Fiona warned her sister. Sasha looked towards Rhys, who had laid down on the ground and his eyes were staring at nothing. She had to blink back tears at the sight before she forced her head back towards Fiona with a hard look.

"It'll be hard to top what I'm seeing now. Continue," Sasha said. Fiona took a deep breath with her heart pounding out of her chest before she began to speak.

"Well, it started when Rhys had gotten his arm. His parents had set him for that upgrade, you know that right? He had all human body parts before," Fiona told Sasha, making her clench her hands tightly. While the robotic parts were beyond useful, she didn't care for them if they were forcibly installed.

"They did it cause they got caught up in a debt with Hyperion. But it only got worse. The man who oversaw his upgrade came back and kidnapped Rhys from his school," Fiona said, placing her hand over her mouth and trying hold back the tears that were rising to her face to continue to tell the story.

"What'd he do to him?" Sasha asked. Fiona halted in her talking. She didn't feel as if she could get the next bit of words out. Now she knew how Rhys felt when she tried to tell the story. Only for him, it was a hundred times worse cause he was descriptive and he actually lived it. He knew what it felt like. Every sensation. Every emotion. Every bit of it. Burned into the back of his skull for him to relive over and over again.

"This isn't easy," Fiona said, unable to look her sister in the eyes before she spoke. "He raped him."

The room had stark quiet. Out of the corner of her eyes, Fiona saw that Rhys had tightened his hug on his legs at her words and he began to tremble again. It was definitely one of the most heartbreaking sights she had ever seen.

"Please tell me you got that wrong," Sasha said in an even voice. She couldn't believe it. She didn't _want_ to believe it.

"Denial's not going to get you anywhere," Fiona said, instantly knowing what her sister was doing. "You're definitely not doing Rhys any favors by denying it. He wanted you to know." Sasha closed her eyes tightly and looked at the ground, tightening her fists with all of the force she had and making her skin turn pale.

"No wonder he was afraid of sex. No wonder he couldn't tell me why. _How_ could he tell me why?" Sasha said, opening her eyes and her eyes welling up again.

Meanwhile in Rhys' head, there was the voice of his tormentor, laughing and groaning like her remembered years ago. The sound chilled his bones and terrified him to the core. He wondered why couldn't he catch a break; Find a reprieve from the demons in his head. But they would always be there. They would always be her to torment him.

"Do not allow yourself to become weak," a voice suddenly said in his head. It wasn't a delusion or anything. It was literally like someone was talking in his head. And it was a voice he did not recognize. This was extremely strange.

"Who are you?" Rhys said, his mouth not working and opting for his thoughts. But it seemed to work.

"You may refer to me as Raemerka. I am the Siren Shaman. You wield great power, but cannot use it yet. Do not worry. Once we might, I shall show you. Nonetheless, you are a warrior. You are a fighter. You are a Siren whose potential has yet to be unlocked. I will not yet give you your power, but I will give you my wisdom," Raemerka said. Then it was like a light had shone into Rhys' head, flaring up his torturous memories even brighter than they were. But even as he ran over them and processed them, he didn't feel afraid. He looked at the face of the man who raped him and the fear from before had changed. Something had definitely changed.

"Over the time period of when it happened, it turned him timid. That's mostly why he was like he was when we met him. But that changed into white hot anger. I can tell he enjoys feeling empowered. It gives him that sense of self he never felt before," Fiona said, her gaze going back to the man.

"You are not wrong," Rhys suddenly said, his gaze suddenly turning into an intense look of pure focus and passion. It was as if his fears were fueling him to rise. As if her words brought out the will in him.

"I know now. There is no more weakness. There is only the dark. I have a heart of darkness. I have fear, but instead of hiding myself from it and letting myself rot from it, I let it fuel me. I let it empower me. I instill that fear into my enemies. I instill all of the pain and suffering that I feel they deserve," Rhys said before rising tall, wiping the tears from his face and tightly clenched his metal fist before looking at the two women before him. In that moment, she had never seen Rhys look so imposing and determined. "I am the fire of hatred. I pledge myself to the darkness. For I have found true peace. In the death of the light."

In that moment, Fiona realized what he meant by that. It was more about not becoming a victim or making his enemies suffer. No. There was more to it. He talks about using all of his emotions to only make him angrier, more of a force to be reckoned with. His fear, his anger, his sadness, and everything else would be used as a weapon. And in embracing his fear rather than running from it would make him stronger. She could see the balance in him. As focused and precise as a sharpened sword, but with all of the destruction and cruelty that came with anger. Like a lock on rocket. No chance of missing, but great power.

"Embracing my fear is difficult. But I'm a survivor, dammit. I will get through this if it's the last thing I do," Rhys said in a hard tone.

"And we'll help you. You don't have to go through this alone anymore," Sasha assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No. I do. Because that just proves I'm not strong enough to handle my own fears. I will push through it. I will use my own fear as a weapon against my enemies. If I'm going to do that, I have to walk this path alone," Rhys said, turning his back back to the girls as he walked out of the room. Fiona and Sasha both were worried at his statement. They were afraid as to what that meant in the future. This could be good or bad depending on the outcome.

But Rhys walked with purpose in his stride. He walked with will. He walked strongly and confidently. He was a survivor. He was a fighter. He was a warrior. And anyone who crossed him would know it.

* * *

"I have news. Looks like Zer0 has been busy," Rhys said, reviewing the message he had gotten on his arm. Sasha looked up from the piece of equipment she was wiring to look at Rhys. Fiona had also looked up from the gun she was examining to look at Rhys.

"What'd he do?" Fiona asked.

"Apparently..." Rhys said as he put the pieces of the gun that was in his hand down on the table. "...they want to meet us. Apparently they could use the recruits, and Zer0 says we're plenty up to the task."

"I am NOT living in Sanctuary," Sasha said immediately.

"I don't plan on us living there either. Cause I don't trust anyone there besides Zer0. Everyone else can go fuck off," Rhys said idly.

"Glad you see things my way," Sasha said with a small smirk. Rhys returned the smirk back at her with a devilish glint in his eyes.

"Still. Kind of a hard offer to refuse though. It would help to have the people of Sanctuary backing us when we need it," Fiona said.

"Yeah, we'll go. Just in case things get rough with some other corporation in the future. It's smarter to have contact with people who can help with that matter. We can take the Fast Travel there if Zer0 can set us up with the coordinates," Rhys said, rubbing his wrists.

"Last time I checked, we had teleportation abilities. Why are we not using them?" Fiona asked.

"Because I don't want them to know we can do that. Not unless it's really necessary," Rhys said evenly.

"And you're worried about this why?" Fiona questioned.

"You know it's in Rhys' nature to worry about everything," Sasha said. Rhys instantly gestured to her when she said it.

"Exactly. So let's go in quietly. Modestly. But we'll kill everyone if things go badly," he said. Sasha nodded and grabbed her and Fiona's ECHOs before tossing one to the girl in question. Rhys no longer needed one cause he finally outfitted his arm with an inventory feature. There are a lot of things he got done. While his inner demons were still a problem, he didn't go into a halfway coma when the subject was brought up. At the most he'd go rigid for a few minutes while trying to suppress the memories. But he quickly converted that fear to anger when he was brought to his senses, and he could dissipate anger at a moment's notice if he wanted to. Things like this had to go one step at a time.

"How do you want to go in?" Fiona asked Rhys.

"We go in like a team. Close together and confident as a cohesive unit. I don't think they'll initially mind guns at the meeting, so keep your stuff out. Your sleeve's just a backup if needed," Rhys told Fiona. Fiona summoned the Masher that Rhys let her have and looked over it in her hands. She loved her sleeve pistol, but she was the first to admit that it wouldn't have good range or stopping power in an all out fire fight. This Masher was perfect to compensate. Lightweight, powerful, and an excellent weapon overall. No wonder this was one of Rhys' favorite guns. He must've liked her to give her this particular gun.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Let's do it," Sasha said. Everyone grabbed hands at the same time before Rhys thought the destination while Fiona didn't think any kind of destination on risk of screwing up where they wanted to go. There was definitely a lot of flexibility with their powers, and they liked that. Rhys opted on going to the Fast Travel that Zer0 requested they meet at, and the assassin was at the station as promised.

"What kept you?" Zer0 questioned. It was a simple statement. No haiku needed.

"Had to gather our bearings. Mind inputting the coordinates?" Rhys questioned. Zer0 nodded and turned to the Fast Travel before entering the travel code for Sanctuary before letting the three of them go one at a time for each trip. It was slightly tedious, but it didn't last that long.

Rhys stood in the center of the group, his posture composed and confident. Sasha and Fiona were right by his side, just as composed and confident, though not quite as imposing as Rhys. He looked ready to kill at all times. He had mastered the air of a cruel killer. Because he was one.

"Follow me," Zer0 said, walking in the center of the town. The others followed him before Rhys spoke up.

"So did you tell them I used to work for Hyperion?" Rhys asked.

"Negative," Zer0 said evenly.

"That'll be fun to explain," Rhys said sarcastically.

"Don't worry. With our word, it shouldn't be too much of a problem," Fiona said.

"Yeah. Hopefully. I don't have time to be stressed out with being called a murderous scumbag. I'm just murderous. They should really get it right," Rhys said with a small smirk. Fiona and Sasha shook their heads at his behavior. But they knew he was right. Rhys seemed like the kind of guy to kill you if you talked to him or his friends in the wrong way. Or at the very least break an arm or something. He was really a Pandoran now. That in itself should be an insult, but it wasn't. It was the way they lived.

The three of them followed Zer0 up to the city archive room. They headed up the stairs where they laid sights upon the leaders of the Crimson Raiders. Rhys had already read their bios from the Hyperion archives. Like that was worth much. But on some cases, they were accurate. Their names were Brick, Mordecai, and Lilith. The fourth one, Roland, he knew was dead by Jack's hand. That would definitely be the elephant in the room.

Fiona was slightly wary about Rhys admitting he was a Hyperion in front of the people who ran the very group that was pledged against that same company. She knew Rhys could teleport by himself if needed, but she'd prefer to not have to teleport out of here at all.

"How are we doing on power cores?" they heard the woman Lilith say.

"Pretty damn good. The men have been scavenging for a while now. And with help from Gaige and the other woman in Overlook, it'll take a miracle to get past our defenses," Mordecai said confidently.

"Good. I want no surprise attacks from Hyperion," Lilith said. This is where Rhys spoke up.

"You don't to worry about that," Rhys said as they all walked into the archive room with them. Lilith raised a suspicious eyebrow at Rhys, who was unaffected.

"And why's that?" Lilith asked.

"Just how long has it been since you've looked at Elpis?" Rhys asked.

"I've been handling things here. I have no time for-"

"Well, I'll save you the trouble," Rhys said, cutting off her rant which did not please Lilith in the least bit. "I crashed the station straight into Pandora. The thing's been in pieces for weeks."

"You're bluffing," Mordecai said, looking directly in Rhys' eyes. He looked back at the man and gave him a challenging and amused smirk. Mordecai frowned slightly. This man looked entirely too confident. Almost the point of arrogance. Most people didn't do that unless they had a reason to.

"Sure, you could suggest that. But the problem is, I was there. So I honestly don't give a damn whether you believe it or not. It's just a plain fact," Rhys said idly. Sasha couldn't restrain the smile on her face. Just no fucks given about the things he said. She was enjoying this. So was Fiona.

"Are you the recruits Zer0 mentioned?" Mordecai said, cutting off Rhys' conversation with Lilith.

"That's us. Let's get a few things straight. Number one, since this was the very first rebellion against Hyperion's regime, let me make this clear. I used to work for Hyperion. But obviously family ties were broken as I sent their beloved space station to the ground," Rhys said in an idle voice.

"You're Hyperion?" Mordecai asked, his voice rugged and slightly angry.

"Ex-Hyperion. Get it right Hunter," Rhys said, refusing to call the man by his first name.

"Hyperions don't change their stripes," Mordecai said.

"No less than a psycho screaming about poop trains and meat, but you let one of those join, didn't you?" Rhys retorted coolly.

"That's different. One of our own put in a good word for him..."

"And one of your own is putting in a good word for me. And it's a professional assassin at that. Do you know how hard it is to gain the trust of a professional assassin like Zer0?" Rhys questioned. When silence met Rhys' words, he raised his head in a superior fashion. It was such a dick move, but Rhys loved it all the same. "Point. Proven."

"Just what do you even have to offer?" Lilith shot at Rhys accusingly. She was going to try to attack him from a different angle. Alright. Rhys accepted the challenge.

"I can pull of mercenary jobs, design weapons, create various pieces of technology, and I'm a sharp mind as well as an accomplished hacker and I'm not bad at fixing more practical things either. Any questions?" Rhys asked, clapping his hands together. When the metal made contact with his, a sort of reverberating sound echoed throughout the room. Though Rhys didn't flinch as if his human hand didn't come into contact with relentless metal.

"Is that right?" Lilith said idly, but Rhys lost all patience.

"Look, if you want me to join, then say it. But if you're going to keep playing these fucking games with me, I can leave now. Just know that I'm not going to bend over just to please you and to stay here. I don't need you or anything you have to offer. So pick," Rhys said, holding his arms out at his sides in a challenging way.

Lilith looked at Rhys with a sharp look, but she couldn't deny that the Hyperion had skills that were more than useful. She could use a lot of those skills in this group. She knew the men and other people here wouldn't like his presence, but they could definitely use his expertise. But she also knew that this wasn't a guy that she could control. Not in the least bit. He wouldn't let her. So she decided to move on.

"You're in," Lilith said idly before turning to Fiona and Sasha. "I assume you already knew about this man?"

"Yes. We did. And he's definitely reliable. Any more you need to know?" Sasha questioned impatiently. Lilith frowned. She did not like the sound of these people. They couldn't be controlled, and that was definitely not what she was looking for in soldiers. Then again, Vault Hunters were not soldiers. And from Zer0's word, these were Vault Hunters. They successfully found and looted a Vault. Not only did that make them Vault Hunters, that made them _successful_ Vault Hunters. Which were invaluable.

"No. That will be all. Do you plan on introducing yourself to the city?" Lilith questioned sarcastically.

"No, I'll leave you to tell everyone you meet that I'm a no good Hyperion scumbag. Cause I know that's exactly what you're going to do," Rhys said evenly. Lilith felt slightly surprised. She wasn't going to go searching for every citizen, but she did plan on telling everyone she met about Rhys and what he was. Granted, it wasn't a hard conclusion to reach, but it was still a little unnerving.

"Then I'll leave you to whatever the hell you were doing," Lilith said. Rhys nodded and turned away, the others right behind him.

"I'm a little disappointed that she didn't try to interrogate the rest of us," Sasha said.

"It's handled. That's all that matters. But I know this much. I'm not taking shit from anyone here. They want to start something? They can get their ass beat," Rhys said, cracking his knuckles on his one human hand.

"Easy there, Turbo. They haven't tried anything against you," Sasha said.

"Yet," Rhys and Fiona said at the same time, making them grin to the point where they almost laughed.

"Though that did go better than expected. I was expected them to try and chase me out with brutality and bullets," Rhys said idly.

"You sound disappointed," Fiona said. Rhys grinned.

"I am, a little. It would've been so fun. But this way is better. Better to make allies rather than enemies," he said.

"I'll drink to that," Sasha said, raising an imaginary glass.

"You want to drink, go to a bar," Fiona said, shaking her head at her sister.

"I would if there was one Ms. Perceptive," Sasha said as they walked through the city.

"There is a bar. Do you not know that by now?" a random soldier said as they were walking.

"Have you ever seen us around here?" Rhys questioned.

"Fair point. Anyway, look for a place called Moxxi's. It's hard to miss with the purple neons and the like," the soldier said.

"Underdome runner Miss Moxxi?" Rhys questioned, remembering the poster in Fiona and Sasha's caravan.

"Yup. Big boobs and everything. She's definitely a hard one to miss. Though judging by the looks of this, you already have your hands full," the Raider said idly. Fiona's cheeks burned, and Sasha looked upset. Rhys looked pissed the fuck off.

"I would advise you not to talk about them like that," he said with a snarl. The soldier raised his hand in surrender.

"Take it easy man. I'm just joking. Anyway, the bar's there if you want to go," he said. Rhys rubbed his temples before looking back at the soldier.

"I'm sorry. I tend to overreact now days. Sorry about the attitude man," he said.

"Ah, it's no problem. Stressful times are a constant on Pandora. No matter who you are. No hard feelings," the soldier said, giving Rhys a two fingered salute. Rhys repeated the gesture back to him before they walked off.

"Look at you. Being all social and shit," Fiona said in a teasing tone.

"I can be social. I just choose not to be most of the time," Rhys said evenly.

"Point. Proven," Fiona said, repeating Rhys' words from earlier. That made Rhys grin before going silent.

They walked inside the bar, which blinded you with a bunch of purple and nearly deafened you with loud dance music. Fiona and Sasha walked towards the counter before Sasha turned back to Rhys.

"Just find a seat. I know you're not much of a drinker," she said.

"No. I like to keep my mind sharp at all times. Go ahead. Get wasted if you'd like," Rhys said, finding an empty booth in the corner and sitting down. He then summoned his corrosive revolver to his hand and began to twirl it to help pass the time. This was how Rhys loved to pass the minutes. Just stylishly moving his revolver like an expert Gunslinger.

"Impressive finger skills you got there," a sensuous voice said in his ear. He turned to the side to see that Ms. Moxxi, the owner of the bar and the previous owner of the Underdome. His eyes widened a small amount at the sight of her. Her appearance took him off guard. She was very sexy. But as far as Rhys was concerned, there were only two women that only had his attention. And that was how he maintained his self-control.

"Thanks. When I first started learning to shoot, I knew that I wanted to know this particular skill. Cause it looks awesome and it's just plain fun to do," Rhys said, his attention more focused on the revolver than Moxxi. She smiled at the stranger. She saw how he pointedly looked away from her like most men tended to do when they looked at her. He was definitely a sexy thing. He had the pretty face and a man's body. She's seen a lot more impressive ones, but his seemed... just right.

"I'd say you've definitely gotten good at it sugar. I can see you're new here. How about I get you a drink?" Moxxi said.

"I don't drink alcohol," Rhys said, pulling up the control core systems for his projects running on his ECHO arm. Moxxi's eyes almost widened at the sight of Rhys' arm. The inner genius in her couldn't help but go nuts at the sight of such intricate technology. But she restrained herself and fell back on her more lusty side as a cushion from losing control and start asking questions with such a vocabulary that most people wouldn't be able to understand half of it.

Sasha was eyeing the two the entire time as they were talking. She trusted Rhys, but she didn't trust the hormonal part of him against a woman like Moxxi. She was beyond stunning. Most men would lose control at the sight of her. But Rhys was not most men, which in this case, was a good thing.

"Excuse me, but can you please get me and my sister a drink?" Sasha's eyes widened as she looked next to her before looking back to Fiona. She hadn't even noticed that Fiona had moved to interrupt the two. At least she had her back, which she was glad for.

"Sure thing sugar," Moxxi said before whispering in Rhys' ear. She couldn't hear what she had said, but it was enough for Rhys' ears to turn a bright red. Fiona's irritation was reaching a breaking point and she knew she was going to have to drink a lot to get rid of this memory. But it didn't take too long for Moxxi to move away from Rhys and serve the two women.

Rhys felt like a piece of meat around this woman, so he decided on standing up from his seat and walking outside. As much as he hated to admit it, Moxxi was something out of a wet dream. He probably wouldn't be able to stop his body from responding to her. His mind and body worked two different ways.

"Trying to get your boner to calm down?" Fiona said, walking outside.

"Kinda," Rhys admitted, rubbing the back of his head. Fiona sighed.

"I was afraid of that. I know your mind and body work in two different ways, so I don't fault you for it," Fiona said. Rhys smiled at Fiona.

"You're the best Fi," he said, making her smirk.

"I know. Now, do you think you can control yourself?" Fiona asked.

"Give me a moment," Rhys said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. At that point, Rhys felt he had enough self control to walk back in there. "Ok, I think I can handle it. I just hope I'm not targeted again."

"Well, if you can't, we can leave. There's no saying we have to stay," Fiona said.

"True. I would rather get back to work than remain here," Rhys said, cracking his neck.

"Let's get Sasha and leave then," Fiona said, walking back in the bar with Rhys in tow. The bar woman gave Rhys a pointed look, but he simply gave her a curt nod before turning back towards Sasha, who seemed to be trying her best to calm down.

"You know, I'm doing my best not to ruin this. But it's not easy when someone plays grabby with your boyfriend," Sasha said as they approached her. Rhys kissed her on her neck and she closed her eyes with a smile on her face from his administrations.

"You're really cute when you're jealous," Rhys said in a soft tone. She pushed her boyfriend slightly with an abashed look on her face. That was the closest to a blush Fiona had ever seen Sasha come to.

"Whatever, you dork. Just make it clear that you have a girlfriend, cause I do not want to have to give her an uppercut hard enough to force her boobs to hit her in the face," Sasha said, making Fiona chuckle. She had a really lady like sister.

"You wanna leave?" Rhys questioned, his voice kind and soft. This showed that the man definitely had a soft side other than the hard shell he put up most of the time. But it seemed like Sasha and Fiona were the only ones who were really exposed to the side. Vaughn and Yvette perhaps.

"Yeah. I've had enough of this scenery," Sasha said, taking a big swig out of her lager.

"What scenery? I see nothing but purple," Fiona said in a joking tone, making Rhys shake his head.

"You have a point there. But I still have work to do, so I'll be glad to get out of here," he said, helping Sasha to her feet. She placed a long kiss on his cheek while her eyes were looking past him. Fiona didn't have to be a genius to know that Sasha was looking dead at the bar woman. And she was making a statement that this was her man. Or something of the sort. But she said nothing as she followed the couple out of the bar. This was one of those moments when she felt like a third wheel. She hated that feeling.

* * *

"Finished," Rhys said after putting the last part of the gun together. He then summoned a mag of the assault rifle to his hand from his arm's inventory and loaded the clip.

"Whatcha got this time?" Fiona asked, looking away from the computer she was focused on.

"I present to you, The Touch of Death," Rhys said, holding the assault rifle up.

"Cool name. What's it do?" she asked, coming over to get a closer look at the gun.

"It's a corrosive rifle. Nothing too special on the surface except that..." Rhys then pressed a button on the side and the gun shifted to a sniper before pointing it towards an old can and blasting it, instantly blowing a hole in it and the acid eating away at the can until there was nothing left. Sasha let out an impressed whistle and Fiona smiled before patting Rhys on the back.

"That's a badass weapon. Nice job Rhys," she said. Rhys smiled at her before putting the weapon in his ECHO.

"I've heard that there's a weapons dealer in Sanctuary. I'll see if I can get him to sign off on this. Future designs will also involve it forming into all types of weapons. A shotgun, SMG, the works. Just gotta figure out the plans for em," he said, about to walk around the table when Sasha stopped him.

"I can handle it for you. Just sit down and relax," she said.

"You sure? I'm afraid you'll get into something when I'm not there," Rhys said with a smirk playing on his face. Sasha held out her hand for the gun with a smirk of her own.

"Don't worry. If I do, I promise you I'll slay," she said. Rhys shook his head before summoning the gun and placing it in her hand.

"That doesn't reassure me in the slightest, but I trust you'll show a little self control. At least I would hope," he said.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry," Sasha said before kissing him on the lips. "If he signs on it, we'll be celebrating tonight."

"Can't wait," Rhys said, smacking her on the ass as she walked away. Sasha turned towards him, but she had a mock warning finger pointed towards him with a wide smile on her face. Fiona shook her head before addressing Rhys who had taken a seat at the computer Fiona recently vacated.

"So congratulations. You're a successful weapons manufacturer," she said, holding her arms out.

"Not yet. It's gotta be successful first. Don't forget about that part," Rhys reminded her.

"It's in the bag. How could someone not sign off on a weapon like that?" Fiona questioned. Rhys placed a soft hand to her cheek and she moved her head away as the touch sent a type of shiver down her spine. But Rhys had a teasing smile on his face the entire time.

"Poor, poor Fiona. You don't understand that the public business is a shark tank. And they'll do their best to cheat you out of quality work. If they even try, I'm not selling it. I'm just letting you know that much," Rhys said.

"You worry too much," Fiona said.

"You don't worry enough. It kind of balances us out, don't you think?" Rhys said with a mock thoughtful look on his face. Fiona let out a humored laugh.

"Yeah. I suppose it does. But I have fun with it all the time," she said.

"Me too," Rhys said before cracking his neck. "Damn, it feels like I haven't left that chair for hours."

"Uh, that's cause you haven't," Fiona said rhetorically. "I was near the computer during some of those hours. So I know."

"That explains it!" Rhys exclaimed in an melodramatic way. Fiona laughed loudly at Rhys' attitude.

"You are such a dork!" she exclaimed.

"I've heard the same thing from Sasha so many times. It's a compliment from her, and it's a compliment from you. So thank you," Rhys said with a warm smile. Fiona shook her head.

"Whatever. I can't win with you," she said, plopping in a chair right next to Rhys.

"You may try," he said with a challenging smirk. Fiona turned her chair towards Rhys and learned forward with her elbows on her legs as she looked at him.

"I honestly have to ask. Where do you see yourself in the years to come?" she asked him. Rhys turned his chair towards her and leaned back in it, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. That was a really serious question. It was one he actually had to think about.

"Well, what I hope see myself at is chilling on an island somewhere, enjoying a well earned retirement. I made myself a prominent leader of Atlas and achieved my goal of leading a corporation to success. I can relax and not have to worry about someone wanting to kill me. Just kick back with arm around my wife, the people I'm close to nearby at all times. Happy... stress free... living a comfortable life. Giving you both that relaxed life away from Pandora you both told me you always wanted," Rhys said, looking sincerely at Fiona. She could _feel_ the softness and sincerity in his tone, and she felt her heart melt at his words, which wasn't a feeling she got often. This man was unlike anyone she had ever met.

"You know, you are one of the most thoughtful people I have ever had the good fortune of meeting. You were a little rough around the edges at first, but you're a wonderful human being. At first I couldn't see why anyone would like you. Now I see it's that loyalty and that kindness that make the people who matter drawn to you. And you're an amazing person for that," Fiona said with a gentle tone. Rhys smiled.

"Thanks. But I have to say the chances of it become perfect are very slim. But hey. We can always hope," he said, his smile wistful and somewhat sad.

"We _will_ make it. With out team, we'll make it through anything. We looted a Vault, didn't we?" Fiona said, holding her arms out. Rhys smiled.

"I guess you're right about that. But hey. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. But also, how about you get out of the con life and get into a life more fitting of you. Vault Hunting," Rhys said, standing up and tipping her hat forward as if she were a cowboy. "And I'm willing to help you get there." Fiona batted his hand away with a smile on her face. Even though she didn't like people missing with her hat, it was still all in good fun.

"Answer a question for me though," Fiona said.

"Shoot," Rhys said.

"What would you do if I were to leave for months out of time with no contact?" Fiona asked. Rhys looked at her curiously.

"That's a strange question to ask," he said idly.

"I know. But just answer it," Fiona said.

"Well, whether Sasha pressures me or not, I'd do the same thing for you as I would do for her," Rhys said, making Fiona raise an eyebrow.

"Which is?" she asked.

"Likely tear up all of the shit in my path looking for you. You are one of the closest people in my life that I care about. You can easily guess who the others are. Nothing would stop me," Rhys said, leaning back in his chair before crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Did you like that answer?"

"Very much so. Sasha, forgive me," Fiona said. Rhys tilted his head and looked at her in a puzzled way at her words. But before he could say a word, Fiona had stood up, straddled him, and held the back of his head and kissed him with all of the passion she had. Rhys was instantly caught off guard as he tried to get away. But Fiona had a firm hold on him.

"Don't... don't before I... change my mind," Fiona breathed out between kisses. Rhys knew he could just shove her off, but at the same time, he didn't want to hurt her. And it was obvious Fiona was hyped up on whatever emotion was going through her head.

But at one point, Rhys found his struggles becoming less and less enthusiastic. Fiona ran her tongue over his bottom lip and Rhys leaned his head back slightly. He enjoyed that. He couldn't even deny it to himself.

"What-" Rhys' word came out in a heavy pant, but his lips were being received by Fiona's again the moment she came up for air. But then he couldn't stop himself from kissing back. He moved his hand to the back of her head and deepened the kiss between them, running his tongue over her lips just like he did with Sasha. She responded the same way she did and shivered pleasurably.

Rhys managed to tear his lips away from hers while looking directly in her face. Fiona's hat had been knocked off her head and her hair was draped over her eyes, slightly disheveled. But the expression on her face was one of a type of eagerness. A type of enthusiasm.

"No going back, huh?" Rhys said, looking directly in her eyes. He sounded breathless, but husky in his own right.

"Not anymore. She's getting you for the rest of your life. Indulge me in a few more minutes," Fiona said, capturing his lips again. Rhys met her lips with eagerness as well and right now, this felt like it wasn't wrong. Not with the emotions running through his mind at this moment.

"Few more minutes," Rhys said, repeating kisses on her lips in a type of frenzy. And for the first time, he didn't mind Sasha taking a few more minutes.

* * *

A/N: Yes, this was intended in the first place. As much as I'm a Rhysha fan, I always thought Rhys and Fiona had that kind of dynamic as well, though it wasn't quite as emphasized as it was with Sasha. So was it possible for him to fall for both women? I honestly believe it was. You may disagree with me, and that's fine. But I know some of you others may wonder what might have been. And that's why I love writing. For these 'what might have been' moments in the canon line. So interesting to build off of. Plus I found it a nice change of pace from all of the dark themes. I liked writing this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.


	16. Chapter 16 - Treasure Hunt

A/N: You know, the more I'm writing this story, the more I'm starting to notice that a lot of chapters turn out sexual in some type of way. Whether it's just for plot reasons or my own ridiculous horny mind somehow distinguishing itself through my writing, this is another one. This is for all the ladies. lmao. I'm a fucking fool, but this is the way I am. And I'm happy with myself. That's all that matters to me. Anyway, all of the men and possibly women enjoy yourself.

* * *

"He liked it. He wants you to arrive tomorrow for negotiations," Sasha told him. Rhys smiled.

"That's excellent news," he said.

"Isn't it? And you trusted me to start some issues in Sanctuary," Sasha said with a smirk.

"Cause we both know how you can get," Rhys said, giving her a knowing look. Sasha then held Rhys by his hips and pulled him towards a chair and setting Rhys down to straddle her. This was a little new.

"You of all people know how I get," she said huskily. Rhys smiled, but to be honest, he was already satisfied. After what happened with Fiona... Jesus. He half felt guilty, but somehow the slightly dominating urge told him that it was not wrong. Well, at least it didn't at the time. This probably made him a bad person, but something about it... he didn't understand why he felt this way.

"I do know how you get. That's why I love you," Rhys told her. That sounded so hypocritical considering what happened a few minutes ago, but he knew what he felt for Sasha. And he knew that this wasn't some fling for him. It just happened she wasn't the only one. He wasn't sure. He hadn't really figured out yet.

Sasha gave out a light, joyful laugh before she pulled his face closer and started nibbling on his neck and Rhys let out a small moan before a smile spread across on his face. Maybe he wasn't as satisfied as he initially thought.

"I see you two are celebrating already," Fiona said dryly in the doorway. She had a flash of Rhys doing the same thing to her a few minutes ago, and an unconscious smile spread across her face. But it didn't take long for her to be taken back to the present and the smile disappeared.

"You know we can't help it Fi," Sasha said, gesturing for Rhys to get off her. He obliged, but as her back was turned, he couldn't help but look Fiona dead in her eyes. He had the same pleasured, misty look in his eyes as he did a few minutes ago. When he was holding her against the wall, their clothed crotches grinding against each other as Rhys engulfed her mouth...

Fiona had to immediately stop herself there as she was right there in front of Sasha. She didn't know when she was going to be able to tell Sasha this if she felt like she could tell her at all, but she couldn't really afford to get into any awkward situations right now. But the attention Rhys gave her was passionate and loving while being dominant. She didn't think anything she had ever experienced was better than that. And she had to live on that memory. She lost control once, but she couldn't do it again.

"Yeah," Fiona said, coming back to the present as she realized Sasha was the last one to respond. But she kept it at a simple yeah. That seemed to satisfy Sasha as gave her sister a smirk.

"This man... has a way to pleasure women in a way you'd never imagine. It's crazy," Sasha said, making Fiona and Rhys look directly at each other.

 _"Oh, I know. Lord knows I know,"_ Fiona thought as she looked at the man. She tore her eyes away from him, causing Sasha to look at Rhys, who had a completely stolid look on his face.

"That's not funny. You know that's not funny, right? Because with my expertise, I would devour her. And trust me, I might dish out a little more than Fiona can handle," Rhys said with a wink towards the girl in question. A while ago, Fiona would've rolled her eyes and said some snide remark. Now that she had a taste of what the man could do, she couldn't do anything but look away from him with her cheeks red.

Sasha laughed at Rhys before thumping him upside the head in a playful way.

"Stop it before Fiona kills you," she said, looking back at her sister. She was still looking pointedly to the side before her mouth unconsciously spoke for her.

"I don't half doubt it," Fiona unconsciously said before she was jerked back the present. It took all of the control she had not to stammer in saying this next sentence. "By the noises you make when we used to live in that Atlas base, it's not hard to believe." Sasha blushed a little from her sister's sentence and it drew attention from the way she said her first sentence, which is exactly what Fiona wanted. God, this was not easy to keep up. She was torn between trying to keep it a secret and wanting to let out all of her desires where she stood. Another time. Another time.

Fiona knew she should feel guilty about what she was doing, but somehow she didn't. It was like this felt right. Maybe she and grown to like Rhys more than she thought.

"Yeah... Let's move on," the man in question said awkwardly.

"So what do we do now? I don't want to keep working," Sasha said.

"How about we head to the Helios base and visit the others?" Rhys suggested.

"That's a perfect idea. Fi?" Sasha asked her sister.

"Yeah, I like that idea as well. But I kind of want to stay here for a bit. I was almost finished with a particular set of coding, and even though technology isn't usually my strong point, I kinda wanna finish it," Fiona said, pointing to the computer in question. Sasha nodded while Rhys smirked.

"Who's the tech geek now?" he teased. Fiona batted a dismissive hand at the man and he laughed. "I'm just kidding. Thanks for the help."

"No problem. Now go," Fiona encouraged them. The both of them nodded and walked out of the room to head towards the Fast Travel. Fiona grabbed the laptop and took it with her. At least to avoid suspicion. She finished the code hours ago. That was only to distract them from what she really wanted to do.

"Over two and a half decades going without a man, and now all of a sudden, I'm going batshit crazy over one," Fiona muttered to herself as she walked to her room and closed the door. She tossed her hat over in the corner and removed her jacket before beginning to unbutton her pants. Never before has Fiona felt this hot, but from what happened with Rhys and the tension she felt just made this all the more reason.

Not even taking the time to remove her top, she stuck a hand against her bare vagina and whimpered. She felt sensitive. Why did it feel so sensitive?

 _"You sure you want to do this?" Fiona remembered Rhys asking her as he had her pressed against the wall, barely able to contain himself._

 _"Do you?" Fiona asked._

 _"I... fuck, as much as I hate it to admit it to myself, yes. I want this badly," Rhys said, his breath coming out quickly._

 _"So do I. Just once, right?" Fiona asked._

 _"Once. Just to get rid of our unresolved tensions," Rhys said before kissing her hard as she was pressed against the wall. Fiona responded fully in kind even though she was very much new to the game of making out._

Fiona moaned out loud as she rubbed her clit at a slow pace. She first recalled the sensation from rubbing down there when she had taken a proper shower. She didn't find a need to most of the time, but she had her urges every now and then.

Rhys lowered her down slightly before grinding against the front of her pants, making her grab a tight handful of the back of Rhys' jacket from the sensation she felt while her other hand pressed on the back of his head, directing his head to her neck and pressing it hard.

"Fuck... Rhys..." Fiona moaned as she continued to press his mouth harder into her neck. His tongue ran over a certain section of her neck, which Fiona assumed was the most he could cover. But it was enough. More than enough.

Fiona unconsciously sped up the rate that she rubbing herself, and she reached a hand on her shirt and now she was half frustrated and herself for not removing her shirt before she had really gotten into this. But she took the time to remove her tops while moving as quickly as possible without rushing so she could make this faster.

"I love Sasha, and that's the God honest truth, but... I can't help but as if I'm drawn to you as well. You've gotten under my skin," Rhys said as he nuzzled his head against her. It was an affectionate gesture rather than a lusty one, but Fiona couldn't help but feel more turned on.

"Then you'll have to deal with it as it comes. But for now..." Fiona bucked her hips against him, and Rhys didn't have to second guess that she wanted him to continue. So he gave her what she wanted.

Fiona started rubbing herself even faster as she recalled the sensation of Rhys bucking his hips against her as he continued to run his lips all over her neck. She dug her nails into his back while her legs had an iron grip around him, but he didn't even feel it as he sped up the speed of his grinding against her while also working his hand up from under her shirt, pinching her nipples.

She ended up biting on her lip from that one. She didn't understand what it was, but the contrast between warm flesh and cold steel felt so good in contrast with each other.

Then Fiona felt a growing sensation in the pit of her stomach that began to build like it was a geyser. She didn't even realize she was about to cum until the very last moment. Her orgasm hit her hard. Her juices squirted out at full force; torturous pleasure gripping at her like a vice that was on her pussy.

Once she finished, Fiona had to just sit where she was for a few moments. She couldn't recall a time where she had orgasmed like that. It was one of the most intense things she had ever experienced. The mess she would have to clean up was worth it.

"I'm heading down a road to Hell," Fiona thought to herself when she finally came down on her euphoria long to get proper thoughts. Though her heart was still beating fast in her chest. Yeah, she had definitely changed. Perhaps for the worst for doing something like this.

* * *

"That was quicker than I expected," Rhys said when Fiona finally walked into the base. Sasha was sitting in his lap as Rhys raised his arms in the air in excitement at her presence. Fiona smiled.

"I see you still can't get enough drakefruit," Fiona said with a grin in Rhys' direction before plopping herself in a chair across from them. He tossed the drakefruit above Sasha's head and caught it in his human hand before shrugging.

"What can I say? It's one of my addictions," he said, taking a bite out of the piece.

"One?" Sasha asked.

"I have my secrets, don't I? You'll be introduced to them _very_ soon," Rhys said in a husky tone to Sasha. No one else had to second guess what that meant.

"Ugh! Rhys, can you stop?!" Vaughn exclaimed.

"Please. You're grossing the rest of us out," Yvette said.

"How about this. You two have sex, and then see if you like it enough to know what I mean," Rhys said with absolutely no shame at all. Fiona and Sasha couldn't resist bursting out laughing at how embarrassed both Vaughn and Yvette looked. Even the few Hyperion workers in here and Cassius couldn't hold back grins that they were definitely trying to hold back.

"I... have no way to come back from that," Yvette said. Rhys smirked in a triumphant way before biting into the drakefruit.

"So, changing the subject, what made you decide to come visit?" Vaughn asked, his cheeks still red. Sasha shook Rhys' arm.

"It's your good news. You tell them," she told them.

"I managed to get one of my weapons marketed by an arms dealer. He told me I can arrive tomorrow to finish negotiations," Rhys told them with a smile on his face.

"Nice man!" Vaughn exclaimed.

"Nice job Rhys," Yvette said with a smile.

"Thank you, thank you. Personally, I think I did a pretty good job on the weapon too. And there are only more to come. I can get some average guns set up cause I have the Atlas specs for their guns, and those were reliable weapons. Slowly, but surely, I'm getting on the path to rebuilding Atlas," Rhys said proudly.

"What about Athena? Have you figured out what to do about her?" Vaughn asked.

"No. But I'll think of something. I'm not going to let her stand in the way of this cause she's pissy about the fact that the company I happened to own killed her sister. That was a different time with different leaders. I don't understand why she has to act like an irrational bitch," Rhys growled.

"Wow Rhys. Such language," Fiona said in a fake surprise voice as a way to try and take the heat off of Athena. Rhys smirked.

"I know you've heard worse. So let me enjoy my moment," he said evenly.

"This situations is spiraling out of control," Sasha said.

"It really is. But it just has to be dealt with as it comes," Fiona said.

"And we'll deal with it the way badasses deal with their problems," Rhys said.

"By shooting any and every damn thing that gets in our way?" Sasha questioned rhetorically.

"That wasn't quite what I was going for, but I like that idea," Rhys said, pointing at his girlfriend.

"What was your idea?" Fiona asked.

"We deal with it swiftly, violently, and intelligently. Sometimes that may involve shooting things. But it has to be dealt with accordingly," Rhys said as the door opened. Everyone in the room turned to face who it was.

"There's a job you might be interested in," Zer0 said, striding in the room.

"Alright. Hit me with it," Rhys said, his attention instantly on the assassin.

"There's a tale. The Treasure of the Lost Sands," Zer0 started.

"Normally men of science don't chase myths and legends, but people said the Vault was a myth. So what do you have on it?" Rhys asked.

"It's local near a town of Oasis. We can ask the locals about the legend and try to gain more leads. Maybe find more work. Do you feel up to it?" Zer0 asked. Rhys gently moved Sasha off his lap before standing up and cracking his neck.

"Definitely. At the very least, I'm in," Rhys said.

"So am I," Sasha and Fiona said at the same time.

"Excellent / This will be an excellent endeavor / And the loot will be well worth it," Zer0 said in haiku. Rhys smiled as he stood to his feet and drew a corrosive Atlas SMG. In pristine condition as it was just made. Then he tossed it to Fiona before walking in front of Zer0 with his Touch of Death rifle in his hands.

"Lead the way Zer0," he said. The assassin nodded before they walked off.

Zer0 lead them back to the Fast Travel station where they teleported to Sanctuary, where the other Vault Hunters were already waiting. And Rhys examined each and everyone of them from head to toe.

First he looked at the first Vault Hunter that caught his eye, which was Maya. She was, without a doubt, extraordinary. Wearing a yellow light armored vest, her blue hair was completely straight with sharp grey eyes that were locked in a calculating look, but alert. Her right arm was covered in a sleeve while a glove covered it. Her left was completely naked; covered from tip to shoulder in Siren tattoos. Though he didn't trust her at all. Not in the least bit.

Then he looked to the man who resembled a soldier. His brown hair was in a state of disarray; a type of orderly mess if you could believe there was such a thing. His boots, his composure, even the very clothes he wore definitely showed that he was a military man. Likely more of a threat with a gun than fists, but Rhys wouldn't hold his breath. Underestimating people could be bad.

Then he looked to the psycho. The crazed look in his eyes definitely made the hairs on the back of Rhys' neck stand up. He was completely ripped, likely strong enough to crack skulls open like melons. His orange pants, the mask, and the brutal blue buzz axe that hung in his right hand gave him the full look of a psycho. Judging by the fact they hadn't put a bullet in his brain made him seem trustworthy, but again, Rhys wouldn't hold his breath.

The teen that he saw completely puzzled him. She was definitely the youngest that she had ever seen on this planet. She had the look of a punk teen that looked like she had her problems with the rules of life, but the metal arm was the thing about her that caught her attention. Rhys unconsciously gripped his metal hand as soon as he saw it.

Looking to the final member that wasn't Zer0, he was a short Truxican. But he was buff as all living shit and he had a pretty damn good beard. There wasn't really much else to him.

"Why is he looking at us like we're under a microscope?" Axton asked Zer0. Rhys caught that line, which caused him to turn to face the commando.

"Cause you are. My eyes," Rhys said, crossing his arms. Axton raised an eyebrow at the at the man's quip, and Rhys simply stared back at him with an even look. He was like Zer0 if he didn't wear a mask from the pure lack of emotion he showed on his face.

"If you two are done goggling at each other, you forgot we have a job to do," Fiona said, putting her gun on her shoulder. Rhys laid his rifle on his shoulder before turning to Zer0.

"Let's get this done," Rhys said evenly.

"Whoa. I've never seen that gun," Salvador said, pointing at the rifle Rhys laid on his shoulder.

"That's cause I made it," Rhys said with a hint of pride in his voice. It was nice when people recognized his work. He was filled with a type of pride that he couldn't describe.

"How much amigo? I'll pay you," Salvador said.

"Soon, Marcus'll be selling a bunch of these. Then you can just buy one off him," Rhys told him.

"Who are you anyway?" Gaige asked him before looking at his arm. "And why do you have such a cool arm?"

"Ah, ah, ah. I don't know you yet. I can't tell all of my stories," Rhys said. Before Gaige could continue, Zer0 raised a commanding hand.

"Not the time / We need to leave / To complete our objective," Zer0 said.

"You're right, of course. Let's move," Rhys said, following Zer0 to the Fast Travel

* * *

A/N: Yup! I'm doing the Pirate's Booty DLC with Rhys, Fiona, and Sasha. This might be a little too easy for all of the people in this group, but hey. It'll be fun. Until next time.


	17. Chapter 17 - Looking for the Treasure

A/N: At first, I wasn't sure whether or not I should do this DLC considering Shade is dead already, but hell. I can make it work without him. For the most part I can at the very least. I'll go about some serious plot details in a different way, but it should still work out smoothly.

* * *

Rhys cracked his neck as he landed from the Fast Travel with his rifle at the ready. He looked at the area around him, and it looked like a straight shot to the city that was ahead of us. Which Rhys could see as he pulled up a map of the place on his ECHO arm.

"This place is called Oasis. Where should we start?" Rhys asked before retracting the map.

"Well, we have no idea where idea the treasure is exactly. There's some investigating and interrogation that we need to do. Maybe the locals will know something about where we need to start," Maya said in a fashion of thinking aloud.

"That may be best," Rhys said, walking down towards the town while having his rifle close to his chest and raised at the ready.

"Just who even are these people?" Rhys heard Axton ask.

"How about you just focus on what we're doing now and not worry about who we are, hmm?" Fiona told the commando. Axton did nothing but smirk as he looked her.

"Hmm. I like em feisty," he said.

"Touch me, and I'm shoving those weddings bands on your finger in your eye sockets," Fiona said before she followed Rhys. God, Fiona couldn't stand people like that. She had his personality down to be too damn cocky for no reason. He didn't know a damn thing about here and looked at her like she was a prize to be won.

"Damn Axton. Better luck next time," Gaige said with a laugh. The commando simply rolled his eyes at the girl. He knew how to take a fucking hint.

He followed everyone else's lead and heading down towards the town. Only to be met with the sight of sand pirates wandering all over the place. They were all carrying weapons, and it was more than likely they would try to shoot them on sight. Well, maybe not. Rhys did have tactics beyond the barrel of a gun or his metal fist. He was a man of words before he was a man of violence. Maybe they could actually work this out.

"Hold it," Rhys said in an authoritative tone while holding his hand up to stop everyone.

"Since when do you boss any of us around?" Axton asked.

"Since now. I don't want you to go in guns first. I'm going to see if these are the type I can actually talk to," Rhys said.

"Wow. That's surprising. You don't grant a bandit the same luxury," Sasha said.

"That's because I know bandits. These people... I'm not too sure about. They looked armed, but they don't look like they want to do harm. Well, maybe. You never know. I'm just going to test this out," Rhys said, making his rifle disappear.

"And if this goes bad and they kill your ass?" Axton asked.

"Then kill everyone here unless they even remotely look like they know about the treasure. Remember, we do need info. And taking a slow approach like this is the best way to achieve that. If necessary, we'll get as violent as any of you want to be to get that info," Rhys said, his tone turning into a sadistically humored one. It was not a tone you would expect from the man, and it surprised a few of the Vault Hunters. Though Zer0, Sasha, and Fiona were all too used to it by now. Rhys enjoyed inflicting pain on people trying to hurt him or others. He was a sadist in that regard. But none of them cared. They treated him all the same.

"And I was hoping to shoot something as soon as I got here," Salvador said in a slightly disappointed tone.

"Don't worry. This is Pandora. It's more than likely you'll get to shoot something eventually," Rhys assured the man before turning to the others. "Just in case, try to make your way around the camp and get a better ambush position."

"That's a good idea. Just make sure to be careful," Fiona told him.

"I'm always careful," Rhys said in the neutral tone of a professional. It was amazing how many different personalities Rhys seemed to have. One to fit a certain situation or appeal to everyone.

"Is he always like that?" Gaige asked Fiona. She looked at the man as he was walking towards the town and her facial expression turned slightly sad, though none of the others saw it.

"Now he is. He didn't used to be like this. He was a Hyperion worker, if you could believe it. Up there, he was the type to not get into fights and intentionally start stuff. But he's got a bad history. One that was used against him for a long time," Fiona explained, while keeping her eyes on Rhys as he walked towards the camp.

"You sound like it's a terrible thing. Personally, if you join Hyperion, you get everything that's coming to you," Axton said in a tone that was somewhat logical. Though Sasha snorted at that statement.

"That's completely ironic. We used to think the same thing. But not all of them are the same. I suppose we both know that now. That's the main reason why we can trust him. Count on him. He's even said it himself. There were very few good eggs in the bunch of Hyperion," she said.

"I find it hard to believe that there were good eggs at all. You know our history with Hyperion. At least, I think you do," Maya said, making Sasha nod.

"Oh, we know. Yeah, a lot of people have suffered because of Handsome Jack, including us. I would suppose I would put the blame on him really, not Hyperion as a whole. Even though most of the people in it were complete shitbirds," she said.

"Yeah, like him," Axton said, pointing to the still advancing Rhys.

"You're the shitbird here," Sasha snapped at him. Axton gave a short laugh while still having his finger pointed towards Rhys.

"What? Are you his girlfriend or something?" he asked.

"Yes I am. Any other stupid questions?" Sasha asked with an impatient tone. Axton let out a laugh and that just pissed Sasha off even more.

As the two began to get into an arguing match, Fiona backed up next to the other Vault Hunters, who were watching the row. In this case, she'd let Sasha vent her irritations. In this case, she could understand why she was getting so upset.

"So much for flanking tactics," Fiona said idly.

"Yup. How long do you think they're going to go at it?" Maya asked.

"How long can Axton hold an argument?" Fiona asked.

"Quite a while," Gaige said, moving closer to the group.

"So can Sasha. So I'd say for hours, or until things get violent with Rhys and he signals for us to step in and start shooting shit," Fiona told her.

"Great," Gaige and Maya said with loud groans. Even Zer0 gave off a flat, but depressed sigh. But Salvador, and even Krieg were looking at the arguing the two were partaking in with eagerness.

* * *

Rhys walked into the camp with a cool stride. He knew he had nothing to worry about with that many people backing him up. Not only that, he was confident in his own skills to at least kill a few of these pirates before they even stripped his shield halfway. No gun in his hand was the best way to show that he was not here to hurt them, so that's why he didn't have it in his hand when he walked up. Though it would take nothing but a second for him to bring it to his hand and blast him in his or her in their worthless head.

"Hey! You there!" one of the pirates yelled out towards Rhys, but he kept walking like he wasn't aiming a gun at his forehead.

"Calm your ass. I'm not here to hurt you. Just wanna ask some questions," Rhys told the man.

"Questions like what? We don't like questions around here. That leads to stuff you don't want the answer to," the pirate told him as more of his allies came to join him. He felt considerably more confident with all of his buddies there backing him up.

"Information about a treasure somewhere in this area," Rhys said, making the pirates look even more viciously at him.

"We don't care for people standing in the way of what is rightfully ours. So how about you turn your ass around and go back to where you came from?" the pirate told him with a hard tone.

"Yeah, but ya see... I've got an interest in the treasure, so you're going to tell me whether you like it or not," Rhys told him, trying to keep his tone pleasant. The pirates laughed at his attempt of a threat. Too bad none of them knew how serious he was even through his nice tone. But the first pirate walked to Rhys while sticking his rifle into Rhys' gut.

"Then I guess we'll have to shoot you, won't we?" the pirate said.

"Then I guess I'll have to do this!" Rhys exclaimed, drawing his laser blade and severing the man's gun hand off before kicking him in the face to knock him onto the ground. He immediately moved swiftly to cut the arm off the man on his left before lowering himself to sweep level so he could cut off the man's legs before turning around and tossing the blade in a sideways motions to cut off the legs of the other two pirates just as their finger was on the trigger.

Rhys placed a boot on the gun arms of both of the pirates and took their weapons off them. But they did managed to shoot in the air as he cut their legs off, so pirates from all over were now starting to fill the area. But at the very least, the sound of the gunshots managed to snap Sasha and Axton out of their argument while looking towards the direction of the gunshot. Sasha and Fiona were looking at it with wide eyes while Axton had a smug look on his face.

"Ah, ya see? Told you it'd go bad," he said. Sasha couldn't resist punching the man in his jaw while looking at him wtih an angry look. Sasha wasn't the girl to slap you if you fucked up. She will punch you like a guy. Cause for her, that's exactly what you deserved.

"Asshole," she growled at him before walking down to look at the town. But amongst all the pirates scrambling all over the place to investiagate the gunshots, she saw that Rhys was completely unharmed. In fact, he had severed the arms and legs of the pirates next to him. He was definitely fine.

 _"How about you all get your asses down here? We can be done with this quicker,"_ Rhys said over the ECHO to everyone. _"And don't kill the guys that I've dismembered. They're the ones we're going to question. Other than that, go nuts."_

"You're actually alive? Huh," Axton said as he was getting up to recover from the punch that girl hit him with. She could throw a punch that made you go, "Damn."

 _"Get your head out of your ass long enough to realize that I'm not here to sit around with my thumbs up my ass while you do all the work. I came here to get treasure, and that's exactly what the fuck I'm here to get. So hurry your ass up and actually do some shit before I take everything for myself,"_ Rhys told them in an impatient tone.

On that note, Salvador immediately pulled out two of his Vladof rifles and started running down towards the camp. Maya also got her bearings together and started running towards the camp. Sasha couldn't resist rolling her eyes. She knew as well as Rhys that loot was what really got their attention. Even the people who seemed to be beyond that didn't have a main motivation unless loot was brought into the question. Incredibly basic. Or maybe it was the fact that they didn't really care about Rhys. Either way was possible, but she didn't care which one it was. Her only concern was getting down there to help him.

Rhys had drawn his new rifle and had it at the ready as he looked around the corner to see what he was up against. Just like the bandits, they seemed to have rather basic weapons at best. That worked just fine for him. But now was a perfect time to try out The Touch of Death. A field test was the only thing that was really lacking. He didn't want it to suck as far as killing things. That wouldn't get many sales.

Rhys turned the corner while aiming is rifle down towards the pirate holding Molotov Cocktails and he blasted one of the Cocktails while it was in his hand, and he died in a fiery explosion. Rhys was curious what was in those things to give them a bigger blast radius than normal. But he couldn't focus on that now.

Zer0 moved like a blur as he quickly moved to get in a position where he could properly snipe. He focused on the pirates that were attempting to flank Rhys on both sides and they crumpled like old biscuits.

Fiona and Sasha had moved quickly to get down there and give Rhys some assistance. Fiona's Masher couldn't do too much from this distance, but Sasha's SMG had a fair advantage at this range. They both managed to headshot a few of them, but for the most part, they lowered their shields or injured them from their sides.

"Just like old times, huh?" Rhys said with a smile before standing up straight from behind the barrier they were ducking behind and shooting back at the pirates that had them pinned down. One of them were suddenly suspended in the air, thanks to Maya, so it was child's play for Rhys to quickly put several rifle rounds in his brain before ducking back down and reloading.

"Tear em up!" Gaige exclaimed, using her arm to summon her trusty robot companion Deathtrap into the fight. Krieg was running into the battlefield with a bandit SMG in one hand and his buzz axe in the other. Axton was running down the the battlefield while Salvador was also running down into the battlefield with his assault rifles, shredding every pirate that he could get within his range. Soon Rhys jumped over the barrier with Sasha and Fiona at his sides, the three looking to push up and try to get anyone that was attempting to hide behind cover.

"STEEL AND METAL WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE SETTLE! PERMANENTLY!" Krieg yelled. And _there's_ the psycho talk Rhys was expecting eventually.

It was absolute chaos. Everyone's ears rung with the sound of gunshots and yelling and screaming with blood spattering all over the place from gunshots, and in Rhys' case, faces melting from the corrosion on his rifle. He knew this was working good, so he decided to go with something a little more practical at this range. His Stinger. It may not have had elemental properties, but it was a deadly SMG with the perfect combination of fire rate, damage, accuracy, and recoil. And since Rhys was a fast reloader, it wouldn't take him long in between mags for him to get back into action. Plus he had his laser sword out for deflection that went hand in hand with his ECHO eye.

"How many of these assholes are there?" Fiona questioned impatiently as blasted another pirate who had just came out of the door.

"They must not have had many places to live," Rhys said as a precisely deflected shot reflected back and hit a bandit straight in his throat. But it was soon followed by about five bullets from Sasha's SMG, knocking him to the floor with his blood no longer flowing.

"I've had enough of you assholes!" a deep voice yelled. They all turned to see a pirate resembling a bruiser from the main part of Pandora, his face completely wrapped in bandages, a water flask at his side, and a corrosive Jakobs rifle in his hand. Rhys ran up to him while putting his weapons away as he ran to speed himself up. Before No Beard could raise his weapon, Rhys jumped and kicked it out of his hand while also managing to kick him in the face. No Beard stumbled from the force of Rhys' kick, who was far from done.

He didn't give No Beard time to recover as he followed up with several fast punches to his rib cage, both from his metal and human arms. Every time his metal hand came into contact with his rib cage, there was a type of hollow clanging sound; as if you were striking a gong inside your own ears. The man had tough ribs, because even through this tough metal, it took Rhys several hits to break his ribs. By then, No Beard managed to gather his bearings somewhat and grabbed Rhys by his throat. Though Rhys definitely was not out.

Using his legs to propel himself upward while not being let out of No Beard's grip, he wrapped his legs around No Beard's neck before grabbing the man's hand was grasped around his neck before conducting lightning through it. This caused No Beard to let him go, and Rhys propelled himself forward so that he had No Beard on his back while his legs were still wrapped around his neck and his arm continuing to electrocute him. Soon after the lack of air and the constant stream of electricity, No Beard passed out.

"Too easy. Such a one dimensional fighting style," Rhys said, standing up and cracking his neck. The others quickly caught up with him as they looked at the person they could assume was the leader of this whole group. Salvador raised his rifle to finish the man off, but Fiona gently pushed it down.

"Rhys only spares people that try to kill him for a reason," she told him. Rhys pointed towards her while giver he a pointed look.

"Ah, you know me so well Fi. Just in case any of us his men don't know anything useful about the treasure, the leader is more than certain to know something," Rhys said as he looked down at No Beard.

"And you plan on getting it out of him?" Axton questioned.

"I hope he does chooses the hard way. It's much more fun for me that way," Rhys said idly. Fiona and Sasha looked at each other at the same time as they knew what that meant. If he didn't talk, he was in for a world of pain.

"Fun? What are you going to do, talk him to death?" Axton asked. Rhys ignored the man's remarks and woke No Beard up with a quick prod from his stun baton. Been a while since he actually used it.

"I'm surprised I'm not dead," No Beard said in a gruff voice.

"You will be if you tell me what I don't want to hear," Rhys told the man.

"How about this. You let up me up now, and let me kick your candy ass," No Beard said, rising to his feet. But Rhys backhanded No Beard back down the ground with so much force, that nearly half a dozen teeth flew out of his mouth from the force and there was a splatter of blood that landed on the ground next to him. Sasha's eyes widened.

"Damn, _he has a hell of a slap,"_ she said.

"Don't you dare fucking disrespect me, you piece of shit," Rhys growled in a voice that was deadlier than venom. He drew his laser blade while kneeling next to the man's face.

"You have two options. One, you tell me where me and my comrades can find a lead on the Treasure. Or two, you can let me torture until you cough up the information or until you die. Which one do you want to go with?" Rhys asked. The man managed to look up at Rhys and spit blood into his face. Rhys didn't even blink from the blood hitting his face. But as soon as it did, it was like a switch had been flipped; his cold look turning into a sadistically pleased one.

"Option two it is. I'm so glad you picked that one," Rhys said in a sickly sweet tone that sent shivers down a few of the Vault Hunters' spines. Even they had never such a tone. It creeped some of them out more than they'd care to admit.

Rhys cut on his ECHO and analyzed his arm. There was less than a centimeter of space for Rhys to work with, but he could do it.

"Hold him down," Rhys said in a commanding tone.

"What are you planning on doing?" Fiona asked.

"Getting answers. Don't worry. If you're anything close to me, you'll like it," Rhys said. As much as Fiona was hesitant about it, she and Sasha held down No Beard's right arm while Salvador held down his left. The Truxican was interested to see what this man was going to do to him as well. And it definitely involved that cool looking sword of his.

Rhys then proceeded cut the skin off of No Beard's left arm. As expected, the pirate began to struggle in an attempt to free either one of his arms, but Salvador was way too strong for the man, who was keeping him immobile with one hand. Between Fiona and Sasha, they could barely hold the man down. But they were doing it.

Rhys then proceeded to ease his way in cutting off the skin on the man's arm. The heat of the laser charred the skin before it hit the ground, having it give of a disgusting burning smell. But Rhys had a smile on his face and was whistling "Moonlight Sonata" as he was cutting. It was almost like he found peace doing stuff like this. He probably did, as a matter of fact.

"How long is this gonna take?" Axton asked impatiently. But in reality, he felt kind of sick. Even in war, he had never seen anything this repulsive. He had to admit that this man was far more of an animal than any of them were. Not in terms of skill maybe, but definitely in terms of sadism. He showed all the signs of it too.

Rhys had the man's arm completely skinned; the cut so precise, that not a bit of his bone and blood that was revealed under the arm was scorched in any way. Then Rhys grabbed the man's arm and began twisting it like a towel. The scream No Beard let out from this was loud and grating on the ears, but it was harder to watch than to listen. Soon his bones began folding in on his muscles as the twisting was causing his bones to literally turn in on themselves. Then there was just plain snapping as his bones began to split apart like it was nothing but a simple piece of wood.

"Stop, stop! There's a bitch in Wurmwater named Captain Scarlet who knows a lot about the treasure! She even has a piece of the compass that you need to help you find it! So does my boss named Sandman! He even said he found a lead on another piece! Just stop this!" No Beard suddenly yelled desperately. Rhys only twisted harder and No Beard screamed even louder as the man soon let out a sob that he quickly tried to stifle. But Rhys caught it, and smiled.

"See what happens when you don't play nice? We don't play nice. And I play like a fucking lunatic. As a matter of fact, get your buddies on the ECHO. Call em up," he said, sliding his ECHO in front of his face.

"Contact... Sinker..." No Beard said weakly. The ECHO soon began to contact him.

"Make sure to get him to get everyone around. I want everyone to hear this," Rhys told him.

 _"No Beard. How's Oasis? Boring as shit, ain't it?"_ the man named Sinker said with a humored tone.

"Get everyone together Sinker. I got something..." No Beard let out a groan of pain before continuing. Rhys had eased up on his pressure, but he still had his arm gripped. "...I wanna tell everyone."

"You alright? Are you taking a shit or something?" Sinker asked.

"Just do it," No Beard insisted. As footsteps were happening over the ECHO, Rhys smiled before patting No Beard on the head like a pet.

"Good little dog. You are obeying well," he said, feeling the rush of dominance that sent his mind in a whirl. A very pleasurable whirl.

"Alright, I'm in the center of town, and you're on speaker. Even the boss hears you. So this better be good," Sinker said. Then Rhys grabbed the ECHO before speaking in a tone full of humor.

"Hello. I hope all of you are doing well," he said with a smile on his face. The Vault Hunters watched Rhys' actions with a type of apprehension, but they were interested nonetheless. Just what was he playing at by doing this?

"Who the hell are you?" Sinker asked. Rhys smiled even wider before Rhys suddenly jerked No Beard's arm so hard, half of his bone, and therefore half of his arm came off like it was made of wood. No Beard let out a loud scream of pain that was sure to get the attention of everyone over the ECHO.

"Your ally's torturer. I can definitely say that I'm having fun with him. You can definitely hear how much fun he's having," Rhys said.

"Who the hell are you?" a female voice said, suddenly overtaking the voice of everyone else.

"Ah, ah, ah. You'll meet me soon enough. You all have something I want. So I'm coming for you, no doubt about that. But who are you? His girlfriend? his mother?" Rhys asked in a pleasant tone.

"His girlfriend, you asshole. Now let him go!" she yelled. Rhys laughed a maniacal laugh that sounded loads more terrifying than anything Handsome Jack could've possibly done. Honestly, this man was pretty damn sadistic. Torturing him wasn't enough. No. He made his allies and anyone who cared about him listen. That was sadism at its finest. He'd be more feared than Handsome Jack if he decided to turn evil. And _that_ was a terrible thought. To all of the Vault Hunters.

"No. I just called you to let you hear his final words. Go ahead. Tell your girl what you mean to her. Let her know how much you care. Or do you really care? Be honest," Rhys said in a tone that was like poisonous honey.

"Listen to me girl. I-" Before he could finish his sentence, Rhys had suddenly eased his blade under No Beard's throat like it was no big deal and slit his throat, leaving him to choke on the sentence that he was about to say.

"No Beard? Say something!" the woman exclaimed. The only sounds he could make were the choking sounds from his own throat being slit. Then Rhys stabbed him in the back of his head to finish him off. Rhys made his sword disappear before turning to the others.

"Alright, now we need to find a way to get to Wurmwater. We can't exactly take a regular car. We'd get nowhere on ground like that," Rhys said, pointing to the rugged ground. But everyone was silent. Most of them too stunned for for words. Except for Zer0.

"Their traditional form of transportation is a sand skiff / We will have to find one of those / If we wish to get far," he said. Rhys nodded.

"Search the place. See if we can find any parts to try and scan it into the Catch-a-Ride scanner over there," Rhys said, pointing to the item in question. Everyone gave Rhys a somewhat stiff nod before walking off and looking. As Rhys walked off, Axton took a long look at Rhys as he walked away. He seemed like a joke, but he was far from it. He cut a man's flesh off, twisted it like a towel to wring out, had him call everyone he cared about, broke his arm in half, and then killed him before he could get his last words to them. That was pure sadism. That was someone who really wanted you to suffer. Maybe that was his outlook on everyone who crossed him. No one on Pandora was that personal.

"You ok?" Gaige asked. Axton looked at Rhys' fading presence before turning back to Gaige.

"To be honest, I'm a little scared of him. I've never seen anything like that," he admitted.

"I don't blame you. It took all of the control I had not to vomit. I'm fine with shooting people or beating them up, but something like that is far worse. It's definitely scarier," Gaige said.

"I think everyone else may not fear him, but are just wary of him. Cause that was something far beyond anything any of us have seen. Usually it's just minor torture or instant headshots, but he's definitely more sadistic than any of us," Axton said.

"His friend told me he wasn't always like that. He used to avoid violence if possible. Now it seems he loves the idea of that option," Gaige said.

"Whatever it was that changed him, it probably fucked him up to the extreme. I don't even think I wanna know what happened to him," Axton said.

"Neither do I. Just... stay safe while you're looking," Gaige told Axton in concern.

"You too," Axton said before walking off.

* * *

A/N: Man, I could _feel_ the flow of this chapter just coming to me. It was so fun to write. I'd like to build on the idea that the Vault Hunters review Rhys as something far different, yet deadlier than some things they've seen. Cause the Vault Hunters have not run into anything as sadistic as Rhys. Well, they probably have, but actually seeing it and the way he enjoys it is far more unnerving. I'd also like a small feeling of fear and/or wariness in them as well. It may be somewhat unrealistic, but I like doing things my own way.


	18. Chapter 18 - On The Sandy Path

"How much long will it take to finish this vehicle?" Maya asked Rhys as she placed the last part in a pile. Rhys looked at the vehicle itself before looking at the parts.

"Not long at all. All I literally have to do is wire everything together," Rhys said as he grabbed the first part. Rhys summoned the engine capacitor to his hand and wire it in through the back. Then he moved around and installed the pressure regulator, magnetic overthruster, and coolant disperser.

"Done. Hit the button," Rhys said, jumping off the sandskiff and walking onto the platform. Maya hit the button that scanned the vehicle while also making in disappear. A confirming 'beep' from the Catch-A-Ride station signaled that the ride was successfully scanned.

"Now can we move on?" Gaige questioned.

"Yes we can," Rhys said, activating the ride through his arm. He summoned two sandskiffs for either side.

"Two people can take two sandskiffs at a time before I summon more. Go ahead and hop in one," Rhys said. Maya and Zer0 decided on taking the first one while Axton and Krieg took the other. Rhys summoned two more, and Salvador as well as Gaige hopped in that one. Fiona and Sasha hopped in the final one, and Rhys stood next to Fiona as Sasha decided to be the one to drive.

"Hope you're hanging on tight," Sasha said as she pushed the sandskiff as fast as it would go to catch up with the other Vault Hunters, who were already heading towards Wurmwater.

Reaching a further part of the map, the pack of Vault Hunters were meshed tightly together as if they were a pack of wolves. In a way, they were. They were just as relentless as any beast. Their sights came across a sandskiff that looked to be tens of times bigger than theirs.

"That looks like her ship," Rhys said over the ECHO.

"Seems so. Let's try to take this calmly. But remember. If things go bad, we still need this Scarlet alive," Maya said. Rhys nodded even though the woman couldn't see him.

"Are those skiffs coming from Oasis? Huh. That's... that's interesting," all of the Vault Hunters heard Scarlet say over the ECHO.

"Sandman wants your part of the compass bitch! Hand it over!" a sand pirate said over the ECHO suddenly, catching the attention of everyone in the area.

"Annnd... I'm being attacked. Great. Wonderful. Hey strangers, can you give me a hand with Sandman's boys. I'll make it worth your while, alright?" the woman said. Rhys activated his ECHO eye as the sandskiffs started coming from both direct openings as well as the arrival of sand worms out of the ground.

"Great. These things looks like they're going to be irritating," Fiona said as she turned to her sister. "You have a better weapon for these things. I'll take the wheel while you help Rhys with these things." Sasha nodded before the two sisters quickly swapped places and Sasha drew her Atlas SMG, immediately taking aim at the sand worms and shooting them in the vulnerable looking spots at the top of their heads.

Rhys used the calculations from his ECHO eye to precisely pinpoint where he had to shoot so his bullet would hit the engine of the sandskiff. And that was his aim.

"Gunzerking!" Salvador yelled, drawing two Vladof assault rifles and spraying the direction that the first sandskiff was coming from. A lot of his bullets began to spray the direction of the first sandskiff, and the front of the hull was ripped to shreds by the stream of bullets, which caused the whole thing to spin and fall on its side. One of the sand pirates jumped off before the whole thing crashed, but the driver was not so lucky.

"Suck on this!" Gaige said, tossing a Longbow Sticky grenade on the head of surviving pirate. He ignored trying to shoot the Vault Hunters and tried to pull the grenade off without success before his head was blown to pieces along with the rest of his body.

Rhys pulled the trigger of his corrosive pistol without a word and shot the engine of the sandskiff that began to pass him, instantly blowing the back of the vehicle and making it fly forward and crush its occupants from the force. Meanwhile Sasha was shooting at several of the sand worms, and even Zer0 had hopped out of his skiff so he could fight the worms better. One of the worms spat an acid ball at Sasha, and she knew that it would do more damage to the vehicle than her, so she took the hit that her shield was able to withstand. But her feet moved about an inch from the force.

"God, these things are irritating," Sasha said, forcing the bullets as deep as humanely possible into their crit spots.

"We're almost finished," Rhys said, summoning a second Masher and idly turning before blasting the driver with relative ease. It was definitely one of Rhys' gunslinger moments. As his partner jumped off the crashing sandskiff from his partner's absence, Rhys simply switched the foot was in front of him, spun his corrosive revolver stylishly, and shot the pirate several times in his head, causing him to suddenly stand up straight, hold his hands up near his face as if he was trying to wipe the acid off of his face before it killed him. He didn't make it.

"Huh. Killed them all? Nice. Get up here, and we can talk business," Scarlet said as Fiona jerked the sandskiff to run over the sand worm next to them, crushing it into pieces. Rhys cut off the analyzing feature of his ECHO and looked at the giant sandskiff of the pirate captain. He saw that a ladder was lowered down to let them up, and Rhys pointed to the leader in question so that Fiona would drive over to it.

"Do you trust this woman?" Fiona asked him as Rhys grabbed onto the ladder.

"Fuck no. But she's the best way of us locating the treasure, so we'll play along with her for now. I expect her to turn her back real quick when we get the location of the treasure, so be prepared to kill a bitch," he said. Fiona and Sasha couldn't help but shake their heads at Rhys' wording, but he did change quite a bit. Never before his 'change' would they imagine he would refer to any woman he doesn't like as a bitch. What a guy.

"So we're going to talk to her, get the locations of the treasure, and then kill her?" Gaige asked as she got to the top.

"I can definitely agree with that one. This treasure is for us, and us alone. Besides, I have no doubt in my mind that she'll do the same to us if she gets the chance. We'll play it cool for now," Rhys said.

"Sounds kind of ruthless, don't ya think?" Gaige asked.

"That's pretty much the point. I don't trust any of these people. A pirate queen with her own army? And we're teaming up with her? That's just asking for betrayal," Rhys said as he eyed the pirate that was walking right next to them.

"Should I keep my mouth shut so you won't kill me?" the pirate questioned as the others were quickly starting to catch up.

"Don't bother," Rhys said, tossing his laser sword towards the pirate in a lightsaber style fashion, cutting his head off. He then grabbed his sword before stuffing the dude's body into a crate. The laser sword ensured no blood came out, so it was real easy to hide his body with no sign of him missing.

"Glad to see you're efficient," Maya said he came back from hiding the body.

"Of course," Rhys said with a nod before they all got on the elevator and rode it up to where they came up there to just see a pirate fall from the top. Shortly after, a woman slide down the ladder. Rhys put his toe against the man's back and prodded him before hearing an uncomfortable groan. "Yup. He's still alive. Not bad."

"I meant to kill him," Scarlet said before aiming her pistol at the man's head and pulling the trigger. Blood flew on Rhys' pant leg and face, but he didn't even blink. "Nice moves out there. You're Vault Hunters, yeah?"

"Pretty much," Rhys said before looking back at everyone else. He was curious as to why no one else was talking, but he turned back to Scarlet, who was looking at him in an interested way.

"Heh. You look out of place here. You look like a killer businessman," she said.

"You're not far off the mark. But this is business I'm here about," Rhys said, crossing his arms.

"Ah. I know exactly what you're talking about darling. If you're looking for the Treasure of the Lost Sands, you've come to the right chick, but gah, I'm being rude. Haven't even introduced myself. I'm..."

"I know who you are," Rhys interrupted. "Business please."

"God, you really are all business. Alright then. Let's get to work then," Scarlet said.

* * *

A/N: Shorter than I thought, but then again, I don't expect to take very long on this DLC. I kinda just wanna run through it.


	19. Chapter 19 - The Next Piece

"What are you thinking?" Fiona asked Rhys as she noticed his gradual frown.

"Nothing really. Just kind of on guard," Rhys said, squinting his eyes slightly under the rays of the sun. All this, and he didn't even have a pair of sunglasses.

"Save it for when you're not the one driving. We can handle that," Sasha assured him. The intense look on his face was eased a bit and he nodded. Fiona had the strangest feeling that there were not that many people who could really convince him out of that. Maybe a handful; her and Sasha on that list.

 _"Don't think about it,"_ her mind told herself firmly. Fiona gave off a mental sigh. She couldn't really think about it now. She had a job to do. She would cross that bridge when she came to it. As far as what she wanted with Rhys. She tilted her head at both her sister and the man in question. She had a feeling it was going to a shit show when they did come to it. Either Rhys was going to be that guy who didn't want Sasha to find out, or if he wasn't, Sasha was going to go total ape mode on them both. Neither was a pretty option.

"Now I know that look. What are you thinking about?" Sasha asked her sister.

 _"Oh shit,"_ Fiona thought before speaking aloud. "Wondering how much loot is going to come with that treasure. That is, if we find it."

"Of course we will. Kinda of hard to keep anything from a group of Vault Hunters. And a vicious businessman," Sasha said kindly, nodding towards Rhys' direction. She saw a warm come onto his face, and it was one she was seeing more and more often.

"He's kind of both when you think about it. He's running a business, but at the same time, he DID help us open a Vault," Fiona said.

"Yeah, but it's not my career. Making a career out of it is what makes you a Vault Hunter," Rhys reminded her.

"So what? Should I call you a temp Vault Hunter?" Fiona questioned. Sasha gave off a laugh when Rhys slapped his forehead swiftly and shook his head. He quickly went back to the road, but the gesture was still there. And it made Fiona laugh as well.

"Remind me why I put up with you two again," he said, starting to shake his head again.

"Cause you love us too much," Sasha teased. There it was. Rhys gave a subtle glance to Fiona before going back to the road. Sasha didn't look like she saw it, but Fiona did. The gesture made bite her lip in slight nervousness, but she couldn't deny that glance he gave her meant... something. Then Rhys grinned while focusing on the road again.

"Caught me red-handed. I do love you both," Rhys said in a kind tone. Now Fiona kinda understood what the glance met. To signify this sentence applied to her as well in that way. Or maybe she read a little too much into it? In ways she couldn't understand, this was stressful on her mind.

"Aw, now was that so hard to admit?" Sasha questioned.

"No. No, it actually wasn't," Rhys said, trying to keep his eyes on the road. Sasha raised an eyebrow at his tone. There was a certain way that he said it that made it seem... something other than what it did. She glanced at her sister, who again, was back in thought. What was going on around her?

* * *

"Whoa," Gaige said in mild surprise.

"No kidding," Fiona said.

Under Oasis, in a place a called Hayter's Folly, there was enough water here to definitely keep people alive. Above all, the water looked as pure as anything. There was a part of him that couldn't resist doing this. As the other Vault Hunters continued, Rhys followed behind them, albeit at a slower pace while making the call he was currently in the process of doing.

"Shade, did you not know there was water under Oasis the entire time?" Rhys asked.

At first there was silence. Rhys had begun to think Shade wasn't answering his ECHO before he suddenly spoke.

 _"...So there is a lot of water under the city of Oasis? What a surprise! I am glad you contacted me. I attempted to hack into your ECHO shortly after you left, but it was well encrypted,"_ Shade said with no shame at all.

 _"And that is why I keep our ECHOs locked down,"_ Rhys thought, mentally giving himself a point for thinking of that particular detail. But then he frowned. Shade tried to hack into his ECHO.

"And why would you do that?" Rhys asked, trying to keep his voice level at the thought of Shade trying to hack his ECHO.

 _"Simply for some entertainment. I get horrifically bored, and it's incredibly entertaining to watch you kill people. I wouldn't attempt to eavesdrop on your important conversations or anything like that. That would be ridiculous!"_ Shade said with a laugh. Though it only made Rhys frown more.

"This isn't over," he said as he cut off the call. Then he quickly moved to catch up to the others. Wasn't hard to follow the trail of badass pirates that were near the entrance, dead with bullet holes in them. He quickly caught up and saw that there was a Crystalisk corpse on the ground.

Moving on past that, he went down a section of the map that lead deeper into the cave. There he could see that everyone was locked in combat with a fair number of skags and Crystalisks.

"That's better," Rhys said as he drew a sniper out of his ECHO and scoped the Pup skag that was trying to slowly make it's why over to Sasha. It gave off a pitiful high pitched whine before lying over, dead. The gunshot caught Sasha's attention and she turned to face Rhys, who gave her a reassuring smile. The snarl that the next skag gave off prevented her from saying a witty comment. She quickly turned on her heel and gave it a couple of sharp shots from her SMG.

Moving further from his current position, he moved around the check to see if there were any other directions he might be more useful at while drawing an assault rifle. A number of the Vault Hunters were tag-teaming the Crystalisks, and they had that area covered. Fiona, Sasha, and Gaige seemed to be handling the skags quite well. So he figured he'd might as well speed up the process of killing the Crystalisks.

From the direction he could see, he had a line of sight on the third leg of the Crystalisk, so he fired his gun on the hip and annihilated the crystals that were on that leg. It didn't take long for the thing to die as Axton and Salvador, who were working on the very same Crystalisk successfully destroyed its other two legs. The two Vault Hunters in question looked over at Rhys, and he gave them a respectable nod before looking over to Zer0 and Maya who had already finished the Crystalisk and sped up the process of helping Krieg with his, who seemed to be having absolute fun taking a whack at its legs and having it stomp him back every now and then. Not ever would Rhys ever understand psychos.

The group moved up the stairs in formation as if they were a bunch of human centipedes. They didn't have an exact location on where Sandman was in the cave. They figured that just traveling through the cave would be enough.

 _"Way back when, Sandman and I were like this,"_ Captain Scarlet suddenly said.

"And we're supposed to know what you're doing?" Sasha questioned.

 _"Oh, right. You can't see through the radio - I'm crossing my two fingers together. Like this. Best buds. Until we stumbled upon some of Captain Blade's notes about the lost treasure that is,"_ Scarlet said.

 _"This is only solidifying my thoughts. You can never trust a pirate,"_ Rhys thought as he walked.

 _"Together, Sandman and I found two pieces of Captain Blade's mystical compass. Then, because I'm an idiot, I tried to stab him in the back, literally. The knife blade snapped, he shot me in the leg and ran... it was pretty embarrassing. But that's when I learned; never betray your friends... until you're sure you've got the upper hand,"_ Scarlet finished. Rhys, Fiona, and Sasha looked at each other. Ok, so they'd have to betray a pirate before she betrays them. That was firmly in their minds. When they got Scarlet's piece of the compass, that'd be the perfect time.

Everyone continued up the stairs with there being a type of walkway on the right. There was more than likely people down at the bottom, and he could snipe from there.

"I can take a sniper and lay down some cover from there," Rhys said, gesturing to the side.

"My thoughts exactly," Zer0 suddenly said. He gave the assassin a nod before drawing a shock sniper and moving over to the side. Both organisms took positions just beyond the barrier looking the bottom, both of them lowering their snipers in the direction of the area at almost the same time. It was almost crazy how well synchronized the two were.

"Well, that's interesting," Axton said as he watched the two take their positions.

"Yeah, I don't think we understand it either," Sasha said.

The statements fell of deaf ears when it came to Rhys as he was focused on scoping on the targets below him. Patience was a key when it came to sniping. A patience that Rhys had grown to develop. And a skill Zer0 was seemingly born with.

The others put to the side before going two different directions; Maya, Sal, and Krieg jumped of the ledge nearby and made their way to deal with the forces on the ground. Gaige, Axton, Sasha, and Fiona moved past the walkway that Zer0 and Rhys were sniping on.

Rhys quickly took an opportunity to snipe a pirate that was coming at Salvador from the steps while Zer0 picked one off that was near Gaige. The sounds of their bullets were fired at almost the same time. The three down on the lower area were able to quickly move up the steps and head off the pirates that were flooding in from that direction. Zer0 and Rhys abandoned their sniper rifles and Rhys drew an assault rifle while Zer0 drew his his sword with a sharp swish of air before cloaking himself.

Rhys jumped over Gaige, who was the closest to the front before shooting out an electric blast out of his mechanical hand that quickly made a pirate start convulsing from the powerful shock blast before kneeling and started firing towards the group along with his allies. The entire group of pirates was being forced back by the plethora of guns and trained people that were holding them coming from two sides.

As they were being forced back by the gunfire, suddenly, a pirate had his head severed by a blue flash that was quicker than light. One of his comrades jumped at the sudden flash and was shredded by the onslaught of gunfire that hit him. As soon they were all dead, all members of the party reloaded before moving up smoothly along with Zer0 uncloaking.

"Easy. As. Fuck," Rhys said with his assault rifle hanging at his side.

"You're right. With a group this big, there's no stopping us," Gaige said.

 _"I told you to lay off - Now I gotta kill you, your friends, and your family!"_ Sandman exclaim, making everyone roll their eyes. But Rhys couldn't resist saying this bit.

"You can have my family for free," he said idly. Everyone in the party besides Fiona and Sasha looked at him in a strange way. They couldn't real understand why he would say such a thing, but then they forgot that most Hyperions were shitbags. Most. At least, not in this case. Kinda. Not all of them were sure.

 _"How would he even know where your family lives?"_ Scarlet suddenly interjected. _"Just ignore him. He's talking crap."_

"Kinda obvious there," Sasha said in a dry tone.

Again, with a group this big, the small group of pirates that were outside guarding a fence were quickly gunned down by the group of nine. Rhys quickly made his way up the ladder and hit the switch to open the gate. Then he quickly jumped down, his feet possessing a strength he never thought they did and able to take the force of the fall without so much as buckling. Then again, he was still primarily a leg fighter, so his legs definitely had some strength to them. He just didn't think that much.

"Thanks. Let's wrap this up," Fiona said as they continued into the room. It was a fairly sized area with a house nearby that acted as a living space.

"You really should've died when I told you. Now you're going to learn that big pain..." Sandman said before a giant pirate jumped down. It had anchors tied to its hand. What a weapon. "...comes from small packages!"

Then he held his arms out like he was the shit or something. Again, many of the Vault Hunters rolled their eyes at this display. They had killed far more dangerous and intimidating than this little man.

"Shall we?" Rhys said, stepping up.

"Let's," everyone said at the same time. Then Maya was the first to go into action.

"Shut up!" she exclaimed, immediately locking Big Sleep into a Phaselock. As soon as she did that, Sal immediately went into a battle shout while pulling out a Bandit shotgun and a Vladof assault rifle, going to town on the Phaselocked Big Sleep along with Maya. Everyone else went for the other reinforcements flooding in.

"You will-" Rhys quickly shut him up by kicking him to the ground and putting ten bullets into his head to kill him.

"Yeah, yeah. Shut the fuck up," he said before moving his sights onto the other pirates that were coming out of the houses that were set up nearby. Again, didn't take long for them to clear out. With a team this skilled and numerous, it honestly wasn't fair.

 _"Part of me kind of feels bad I didn't get to kill Sandman myself, but the other part of me is happy I got to chill back here and read the latest issue of Crimefighter Frog. It's about a frog who fights crime,"_ Scarlet said. Rhys shook his head and scoffed before checking the belongings that were back here.

Eventually Rhys stumbled upon a chest while everyone else was wandering for loot. Inside was a type of piece that looked like it was more than likely the piece of the compass. He quickly pocketed that before grabbing the ECHO that was next to it.

 _"Dear Diary: I know where the third piece is - Hyperion's got it!"_ The moment Rhys heard these words was the moment Rhys hands nearly tightened hard enough around the ECHO to break. Instead, it just cracked around the edges, but was still functioning. _"Judging by what they've been saying over the radio, they think it's just some trinket - they're going to ship it out to some caravan in Wurmwater. I've just gotta... Aw, great. Those jackasses from Oasis are coming after me. BRB Diary."_

Soon as the message ended, the ECHO was crushed into pieces from the pressure from Rhys' hands. The fire in his eyes was showing. He didn't know why, but he was associating his old company, his old home as the worst kind of association. To be honest, they really were, but it still didn't make quite as much sense as to him and you would think.

"You find anything?" Sasha asked behind him. Rhys stood up slowly, turned to Sasha, and she took a step back from how bright his eyes seemed to shine. He then placed a strange looking object into her hand.

"Take this. Tell everyone to take some other jobs. I'll be back," Rhys said.

"What are you thinking?" Sasha asked. A grin came to his face, and it was that same bone chilling grin that he gave off whenever he was about to murder.

"Oh, don't you worry your sexy little butt about that," he said in a tone that was soft, yet deep. Completely attractive to her. But the look on his face is what brought her back to the present. But he was already moving out before she even got a chance to respond further.

"Where's he going?" Fiona said, looking at the smashed ECHO on the ground.

"I think he's got some people to murder. And judging by the grin on his face, it's a spree he's going to enjoy," Sasha told her sister. "You suppose we oughta tell the others about what Rhys wants to do?"

"They should be alright once they find out Rhys didn't take this with them," Sasha said, raising the piece of the compass Rhys gave her.

"Alright, then we'll get to it," Fiona said, walking off with her sister. Part of her couldn't help but wonder just where Rhys was going with this. Another part of her didn't want to know.


	20. Chapter 20 - Public Service Announcement

A/N: This is an announcement I'm putting on several of my stories. The ones that get it are being put on hold for now. I'm putting them on hold because at times updating so many stories at a time gets overwhelming, and I need a little space. Once I finish with some of my other stories and the space has been cleared out, I'll return to them. I am not, repeat, NOT abandoning these stories unless I give an announcement that says otherwise. But I do want to thank the people who are following these stories, and I'll kindly ask for your patience while I shorten the workload on my stories.


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